A four-day admission badge to the Masters Tournament is one of the toughest tickets in sports to obtain, but the annual golf tournament isn't the only major American athletic contest where scalping persists.
At other major sporting events -- the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA basketball tournament and the World Series, for example -- tickets with relatively cheap face values are sold second- or third- hand for exorbitant prices.
Tickets for the Green Bay Packers-Denver Broncos Super Bowl matchup originally sold for $275 to $375, but brokers charged from $1,075 for upper-level end-zone seats to $3,750 for seats between the 20-yard lines.
In the search for tickets, golf fans often have nowhere to turn but brokers for a trip to the Masters. The waiting list for Masters badges was closed in 1978, so the black market is the only place the general public can buy them.
Brokers who buy and sell illegally in Georgia, often charge 60 times the $100 face value and some fans are willing to pay the inflated price.
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Click on the image above for a full-sized version of the graphic comparing the ticket prices of some of the nation's most prized events.
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High demand and the exclusive badge policy of Augusta National Golf Club drives those prices, but scalping is still a problem at events with less strict ticket policies. People pay scalpers dearly.
At last month's NCAA basketball championship in San Antonio, the money that passed between broker and buyer for a single Final Four ticket could buy a player's books for a semester or pay his tuition. The NCAA charged $80 to $100 for the three games.
``We make them very happy,'' said Debra DeMase of Tempe, Ariz.-based Team One Tickets, where brokers charge top dollar for admission to premium sporting events, and clients gladly pay. ``They enjoy themselves immensely.''
Daytona pays loyalty
Masters patrons earned the right to buy badges by supporting the Augusta tournament before it was a major golf event. Most tickets for Florida's Daytona 500, NASCAR's granddaddy race, are also sold to longtime fans who packed the stands before motor sports became popular.
It's a seniority system of sorts. Each year, Daytona 500 ticketholders have the option of renewing their seats for $65 to $170. Lucky patrons may get to move up in the grandstand to more expensive seats if other long-term seat holders die or fail to renew.
More than 90 percent of 143,000 grandstand tickets are renewed, said John Story, public relations director for Daytona International Speedway.
``It's a `thank you' to the fans,'' said Mr. Story, who once worked for the Professional Golfers' Association of America. ``We don't have to renew those tickets again.''
The remaining grandstand tickets and any new seats that are built are put up for public sale. A year in advance, race fans call the speedway and buy their way onto a waiting list.
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Click on the image above for a full-sized version of the graphic comparing the ticket prices of some of the nation's most prized events.
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Their credit cards are immediately charged the top ticket price -- $170 for the 1998 race in February -- even though there's no initial guarantee of admission.
Later in the year, fans find out if they got tickets and at what price. Those who don't get a ticket receive a full refund, while others are refunded the overpayment, if any. The speedway also sells an undisclosed number of infield tickets for $65 on the day of the race.
Just about every year, the speedway builds new bleachers to accommodate more fans. Ticket prices increase, but never enough to shut out the ordinary fan. The number of tickets sold to an individual or a corporation is limited to prevent scalping.
Ticketholders are told their renewal privileges will be revoked if they're caught scalping or selling to scalpers.
Still, the practice persists.
``Easily, they're one of the hottest tickets in sports, based on the fact that people are willing to pay $1,200 for them through a scalper,'' Mr. Story said. ``I don't feel that the Daytona 500 is worth $1,200. I don't feel that any sporting event is worth $1,200.
``We don't want to see the race fan get stiffed for inflated prices.''
A shot at Final Four
Like Daytona 500 seats, NCAA Final Four tickets are in short supply, but fans
have several chances to buy them at face value.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association sets aside 10,000 tickets each year to sell to the general public through a drawing. Each person is allowed to purchase two tournament passes.
Fans send an application and a check for tickets, plus a $2 handling fee, to qualify for the drawing. Those who don't receive tickets get a refund. About 150,000 people apply for the drawing every year, said Dan Calandro, operations director for NCAA men's basketball.
The NCAA also gives 14,000 tickets -- 3,500 each -- to the Final Four schools. These can be sold to students, season ticket holders or other fans.
Another 3,500 tickets go to the National Association of Basketball Coaches for sales to its members, and 5,000 tickets remain with the NCAA to sell to its ``constituents'' -- college presidents, network sponsors and other business partners -- Mr. Calandro said.
The basketball players also get six passes each to be used by their friends and families, but they're never actually given a ticket.
The NCAA recognizes how tempting it would be for players to scalp six gratis Final Four tickets, valued anywhere from $2,100 to $33,000. People attending the tournament on player passes must show identification at the arena entrance to be admitted to a game, Mr. Calandro said.
``That's done so they aren't scalped,'' he said.
Still, the NCAA has scalping problems. About 25 people were arrested for scalping at the 1996 tournament in Seattle; the 1997 Final Four took place in Indianapolis, where scalping is legal.
A few years ago, the NCAA discovered that tickets allocated for a coach had been scalped. He told officials the tickets had been stolen, said Mr. Calandro, who refused to name the coach.
Because his tickets were scalped, the coach is banned from purchasing Final Four tickets from the coaches' association for five years.
``We try to tell people, `Hey, these are for your use,' but it's difficult (to prevent scalping) because demand is so high,'' Mr. Calandro said.
No All-Star sales
Demand is just as high for professional basketball's top events, but supply is sometimes shorter.
Like Masters badges, tickets to the NBA All-Star Game are sold to an exclusive few. Seating is limited to about 19,000 and there are no public box office sales.
``We consider our All-Star Game our party we put on for our teams,'' said a National Basketball Association spokesman who requested anonymity. ``It's our event for our people.''
Tickets are sold to league employees, players, various team employees and season ticket holders in the host city. At the Feb. 8 All-Star Game in New York's Madison Square Garden, brokers charged upward of $450 a pass.
The best seats sold for $3,500. That's roughly $73 per minute of basketball. The NBA sold the tickets for $150.
Tickets to the 1998 NBA Jam Session, a series of practices and special events at the start of All-Star week, also were the targets of scalpers, the NBA spokesman said. Regular fans already have a better chance of getting a ticket to the Jam Session than to the All-Star Game.
``All and all, it's really tough to keep tethers on all 19,000 of those tickets,'' said the spokesman, noting efforts are taken to prevent scalping. ``We are sensitive to the fact that the general public can't go.''
No price increases
But there's only so much time and manpower that can be committed to stopping scalping.
``The activities going on far exceed our resources,'' he said. ``We're too busy putting on the event to look that far.''
With fans -- corporate or otherwise -- willing to pay so much to attend sporting events, original sellers could easily rachet up the price a few hundred dollars.
But no one will admit even considering that.
``You don't want to take the average fan and double the price and triple the price on them just because you can,'' said Daytona's Mr. Story.
Masters not the only field day for scalpers
