Football tickets.
With the approach of the Civil War football game on Saturday, those two words are worth as much as $500 a pair.
However, the place to get these revered tickets is not through the University ticket office, but rather, through classified advertisements, eBay and people standing on the corner.
Ticket scalping is legal in Oregon, although the University prohibits scalpers from standing on University property while trying to sell tickets, Assistant Athletics Director Dave Williford said.
“We will certainly not allow (ticket scalping) to happen on Athletic Department or University property,” he said, adding that when a scalper is spotted, he or she is asked to leave the premises immediately.
That doesn’t stop the determined, however.
University junior Sonja Greene crosses the Autzen footbridge for almost every football game, and said she notices more and more scalpers each time.
“It’s frustrating, being hustled, when all I want to do is get to the game,” she said.
Although Oregon does not have a law restricting ticket scalping, several states do.
Illinois enacted the Ticket Scalping Act, which states it is unlawful for any person to sell, barter or exchange admission tickets at any other place than in a box office or on the premises of the event.
California also prohibits ticket scalping at events under California Penal Code Section 346, which states: “Any person who … sells a ticket of admission to (an) entertainment event, which was obtained for the purpose of resale, at any price which is in excess of the prices that is printed or endorsed upon the ticket, while on the grounds of or in the stadium, arena, theatre, or other place where an event for which admission tickets are sold … is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Jan Bohman, community relations manager for the city of Eugene, said ticket scalping has never appeared to be a significant problem in Eugene. Bohman added that she was not aware of the Eugene City Council ever raising the issue.
Greene said ticket scalping is an issue that needs to be brought to the attention of everyone, City Council included.
“It’s ridiculous that people are making hundreds of dollars in profits from students,” she said. Greene added that she thought the worst offense was when ticket scalpers tried to sell student tickets.
Michael, a ticket scalper who didn’t want his last name printed, has been selling tickets for the past five years. It started when he couldn’t go to a basketball game, and he ended up selling his ticket for a $15 profit.
“If students want to get tickets, they need to get up early and stand in line,” Michael said. “If I beat them to it, then it’s well within my rights to do as I chose with the ticket.”
Williford said a big concern with buying a ticket from a scalper is the possibility of the ticket being fake.
Oregon State University is looking to create electronic student tickets within the next two years, Oregon State’s Director of Ticket Operations Matt Arend said.
The ticket would be electronically transferred to a student’s identification card, which the student would then use to get into the game. Arend said the process, which is already being used at Stanford and Ohio State University, will help eliminate the scalping of student tickets.
Both Russ Blunck, sports information director at Western Oregon University, and Rich Rosenthal, sports information director at Southern Oregon University, said ticket scalping is not a problem at their universities.