Badgers v. Iowa, $50 o.b.o. ? Call Megan.
Basketball season tickets, $250 o.b.o. ? Call Mike.
Such are the signs plastered on bulletin boards across campus. Though the supply may be aplenty, students looking to sell Badger event tickets have reason to be wary.
Though University of Wisconsin police tend not to seek out student-ticket resellers advertising on campus, citations accompanied by a damaging fine can be administered to those who are caught.
The UW System administrative code outlaws the resale of Wisconsin event tickets for more than face value, and the sale of any item is illegal in the city of Madison without a permit. Each UW ticket also carries a warning, “Notice: ticket scalping prohibited.” This refers to the UW administrative code section that says scalping tickets is prohibited. It also lists a number of possible punishments resulting from such an act.
UW police said students who are caught scalping tickets face a $181 citation for each offense. Though ticket sales are prevalent throughout campus, UW campus police also said violations rarely occur.
“The people we have the biggest problem with are the people who do it for a living,” UW Police Lt. William Larson said. “They buy tickets in bulk and prevent others from buying tickets at face value.”
Larson also said that the campus police do not have the manpower to pursue the immense number of violators around campus but rather focus on ticket scalpers outside UW sports events. If campus police receives complaints from a student about ticket scalpers, they will investigate the matter, Larson added.
Though the possibility of punishment exists, and warnings are ever-present, ticket resale is widespread on the UW campus.
Associate director of the UW Athletic Department Steve Malchow said there is little athletic officials can do to stop the sale of tickets to resellers.
“We need to sell the tickets, and we assume that we are selling the tickets to people who want to come to the game,” Malchow said. “We can only encourage and educate people that there are ordinances in place that they should follow [regarding the resale of their tickets.]”
Ads advertising Badger sports-event ticket sales appear around campus, in local newspapers and even in on-line auction houses. Many request exorbitant amounts of money for single or season tickets.
Local ticket resellers have said the price buyers’ pay for game-day admittance depends on demand and the weather.
“The price I can get varies with demand, and the demand was high for the Ohio State and Purdue games,” said one UW student who has been selling non-student tickets to football games throughout the season. “Demand is getting lower lately; it is getting cold out, and I have to lower prices.”
Although some ticket resellers seek profit, many are simply getting rid of unused vouchers and making up for a potential loss of investment. The majority of students who advertise the sale of tickets simply cannot use them or have extras.
One student who recently sold his basketball season tickets expressed disinterest in financial gain from the sale of his student vouchers, though the result of his sale left him with more than double the initial price of the tickets.
“I’d rather be at the game,” he said. “I won’t sell my tickets in the future if I can avoid it.”
