Cubs charge $1500 for a ticket

[Rajah]

Somehow, it seems that the Cubs ticket scandal hasn't been noted here. Yes, its true. The Chicago Cubs through their supposedly independent ticket scalping company are charging up to $1500 for tickets to this weekends series vs. the Yankees.
Its been nigh impossible to buy single game tickets for the Yankees series from the official box office. All the tickets are being sold through the ticket scalping company. A lawsuit has been filed, but be afraid if the Cubs win the suit. The rest of baseball will surely follow.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg30.html

(on a semi-related note, the sun-times is already selling through its website, the Sammy Sosa Uncorked Tour T-shirt, you can track it down via the above website)

[Wolf Hopper]

And, yet, the owners claim George is bad for baseball. They never turn down the money he generates for their pocksts 'tho.

[SmedIndy]

Wolfie - get off the George high-horse. You should thank Ed Barrow for the mystique.

Raj - I think BP had a nice piece on the legal scalping. The Cubs won't win that - IMHO.

[Craig S.]

As long as they can get that type of money, it'll be hard to convince them to do otherwise.

It really couldn't be more wrong, though.

[rcartman28]

Really scary if the Cubs actually win this lawsuit. They'll get their money, but just alienate even more fans in the long run....

[poorme]

another reason why the tribune company noses out reinsdorf as the worst owner in baseball.

[WiredTiger]

I think we may be seeing the future of ticket prices with the variable pricing that is going on and the ticket scalping travesty by the Cubs. Will the average person be able to afford to go to the game 50 years from now? The Tigers are still affordable but the Red Wings are getting to the place where you have to take out a small loan to go to the game if you can even get tickets.

[poorme]

sure, the "average" fan will get to go to games in the future. it's just that they will be restricted to "average" seats for "average" games.

[Wolf Hopper]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
Wolfie - get off the George high-horse. You should thank Ed Barrow for the mystique.

Smed - I feel for you. It must be a tremendous burden to know everything. :stinker:

:kiss:

[Craig S.]

In a way, I hope this continues. I feel like MLB and other pro sports are almost at the saturation point, or the point where fans won't take it any longer. There has to be some kind of stand made by fans, or this flagrant abuse will continue.

The wealthy alone can't keep baseball afloat. If they lose the middle-class fans who attend 15-20 games a season, they'll be in big trouble.

[Wolf Hopper]

Biggest ticket in Chicago. Even the Yankee players were told - - you get 6 tickets eac h, no more, no parking, nada. (Sometimes, in other cities, the players can get more than 6 each.)

Wonder how Clemens will get his tribe in there for Saturday? His teammates will probably pony up their tickets.

[poorme]

maybe roger can pass the hat to raise some funds to buy some tickets

[Craig S.]

Originally posted by Wolf Hopper
Wonder how Clemens will get his tribe in there for Saturday? His teammates will probably pony up their tickets.

I'm trying to work up sympathy for Clemens not having enough tickets. Trying real, real hard.

If his teammates don't pony up with some, I'd bet Roger has a few dollars that he's saved from his Base Ball playing. I may be wrong, but he likely has enough money to afford tickets from an agency.

[SmedIndy]

It was a travesty when they started taking pre-orders for bleacher tickets - this is even worse, though.

Baseball for the proletariat! Down with the bourgeoise Trib!

[pathogan]

Originally posted by Wolf Hopper
Smed - I feel for you. It must be a tremendous burden to know everything. :stinker:

:kiss:

...before this gets out of hand:D

[sweaver]

More on the story from the Chicago Sun-Times. The Cubs have been censured by MLB (oooo, I bet that hurt :rolleyes: ) and the writer compares the situation to 1908, in an interesting twist.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg111.html

My mistake, the censure was not for the current situation, but occured in 1908.

[SmedIndy]

Don't get me started.....

[rcartman28]

More on the story from the Chicago Sun-Times. The Cubs have been censured by MLB (oooo, I bet that hurt :rolleyes: ) and the writer compares the situation to 1908, in an interesting twist.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg111.html

My mistake, the censure was not for the current situation, but occured in 1908.

I am pretty sure that "current scam" where the Cubs are charging ticket-holders over a grand for the 10 possible playoff games is being done in all of the cities with playoff possibilities. I received an invoice from the Twins last month for something like $1800 for two strips of tickets for the 11 possible playoff games at the Dome, (side note: I started a thread on this about this time last year, one of the two I have started in my NetShrine career) and yes, the money would have automatically been credited towards my 2004 season tix should the Twins not play all of those games. Denise and I passed on their fine offer this year. I also noticed that the invoice included a $35 non-refundable handling fee for this service, charged whether the Twins play in October or not.....

[Wolf Hopper]

More on this story: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2003/news/story?id=1632772

[KCBOOMER]

And, yet, the owners claim George is bad for baseball. They never turn down the money he generates for their pocksts 'tho.

Definitely off topic. Let's try to have a non-Yankee thread if possible.

Poor show by the Cubs management on this one.

[Wolf Hopper]

Definitely off topic. Let's try to have a non-Yankee thread if possible.

Boomer - that post was made 4 months ago. You're a little late to the party.

[Elmo]

I was wondering about this - it's obviously reprehensible (and I've seen posted places that they have suspended the service for the playoffs...since VIP's aren't reselling their tickets and such).

Doug Pappas adressed related party transactions in a BP chat - maybe this is a topic for a new thread, but I think the scalping scheme is just another attempt to increase revenue and do so via third parties to keep revenue of the books for negotiating rights - and as Doug maintains - improving corporate earnings where they count (people pay attention to WGN's earnings, not the Cub's earnings).

The point was brought up about the huizengation of teams - spinning of the sure profits in parking, vending, sweetheart leases, sweetheart broadcast deals and such to related parties and then, like Huizenga did, realizing he doesn't need to assume any risk and spin the team (i.e. the player salaries) itself off - retaining all the other bits for himself.

owners love the related parties as it allows them 'moral' highground on dubious claims of losses - and if they can get away with a huizenga deal, they come out in great shape. But shouldn't baseball owners - many of whom are not in a position to huizenga their team - be fighting this stuff tooth and nail? It's not a negotiating point (its origins) and it's a significant risk for ownership. Once Huizenga does this and basically screws the teams financial potential of the team (totally outside of MLB) he also screws the potential of the new owner's ability to earn and by association the franchise fees that MLB is so craven to get.

But no mention of any of this.......I guess ownership is still doing viability tests to see whether they can screw their franchise the same way before they condemn the practice.....

[sweaver]

The judge ruled that the fans did not prove any illegal activity on the part of the Cubs. The only redress will be if the Illinois state legislature acts to make this illegal. Don't hold your breath.

Here's the Sun-Times version: http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg25.html