NCAA Tournament Brings Out The Scalpers

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Channel 6 News Justin Joseph goes undercover in search of tickets
Posted: 9:52 PM Mar 19, 2008
Last Updated: 1:17 PM Mar 20, 2008
Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com

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March Madness has invaded Omaha and while police have their hands full, others will have their hands full of tickets. Some are looking to make a buck illegally during the NCAA games this week.

How easy is it to find a scalper? Channel 6 News reporter Justin Joseph found out with a hidden camera investigation outside the Qwest Center.

While most people fished around the Qwest Center for tickets, Justin was trying catch a much larger fish, a scalper.

"Looking for tomorrow night? What are you guys spending? I got center court uppers, 10 rows up. Probably get a deuce each."

A $53 ticket scalped less than 10 feet from police. "What are you selling them for?”

“We can’t do it here, man. Can we go down the block?”

“Yeah, we can do that.”

Scalpers are quick and they're bold. What they apparently aren't is well versed in the law of the land.

"His comment about going somewhere else, doesn't really make any difference,” says Omaha City Prosecutor Marty Conboy. “If he's offering them for sale and making the deal, the fact that he walks two blocks away to hand 'em to you doesn't get around the ordinance.”

Conboy says they'll prosecute you for just offering to sell above retail within a half-mile of a facility. "It's a big business. One scalper we prosecuted says he goes all over the country and made over $200,000 last year.

Not convinced, Justin also tried four different offers on the Web site Craigslist. Forty-five minutes later, one arrived.

"How much are they?"

"Three hundred dollars for the pair.”

Their boldness was contagious. "I'm with the media,” said Justin. “We are doing an undercover story on scalping. Why are you scalping right here?”

“Because you called me.”

“I know, but you realize you're breaking the law?”

“No I didn't."

Now he does, but this fish wasn’t happy. “What I do know is that you told me to come down here.”

“Yeah, it's not illegal for me to ask, but it is illegal for you to offer, but anyway thanks for coming down.”

And just like that another scalper caught and released.

So how does this happen right in front of police? Justin spoke with them Wednesday evening and they say for the officers on the corners, their first priority is traffic control and public safety. They say unless they directly hear or see something, they have undercover people who are out on these streets handling this very thing.

When the day began, fans without tickets were hanging on hope that teams would be turning in tickets that were not claimed for Thursday's games. Not a single ticket was turned in, but that could change after Thursday for Saturday’s games.

Since four teams will be eliminated Thursday, tickets for Saturday's games could be made available. We'll know about the availability of those on Friday.

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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

Posted by: Anti Scalping on Mar 25, 2008 at 03:22 PM
The cops said they arrested 16 people for scalping at the NCAA this weekend. The cops you see in the cars are traffic officers, it would be pretty hard for them to function in an undercover role. Plainclothes officers, the ones you don't see, are the officers who make scalping arrests. Sounds like they did a pretty good job to me.

Posted by: Keith on Mar 22, 2008 at 04:21 PM
C, that's the way it used to work here. For the CWS, you could walk around the parking lot and talk to a number of scalpers. When my brother came to visit to watch his team win the CWS, I got great seats above 3rd base (and his team's bull pen) for $45 each. It seems you're right, the scalping was more competitive then.

Posted by: Drew on Mar 21, 2008 at 08:29 AM
I'm not a scalper and I want to see a game as much as anybody, but I'm not and that's because I don't want to pay $200 for a ticket - shame on me for not getting in line when they originally went up for sale. It's not shame on scalpers for selling tickets for what others are willing to pay. Fact is, something is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it. So if you buy a $50 ticket and someone offers you $200, the value of that ticket is now $200. That shouldn't be illegal. Someone brought up a good point that the ordinance isn't enforced anyway, so why have it? In my opinion, the only thing unfair about this whole situation is how the tickets were made available to the public in the first place.

Posted by: Cissy on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:34 PM
That's what we love about America - the land of the free where the rich get richer and the rest of us - well, we post comments on the internet and watch the game on TV.

Posted by: Get A Real Job!!! on Mar 20, 2008 at 03:37 PM
there is a guy selling at 10th and dodge right as you get of the highway. and the police are across the street doing nothing but sitting it there cars.

Posted by: C on Mar 20, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Let's leagalize "resale." We can put up a tent in the parking lot (where the stadium is going to be) and let the scalpers sell all the extra tickets in one place. Let me see, if Joe has HIS tickets for sale at $300 and Jim has HIS tickets for sale at $200 and they are working side by side, bet the price starts coming down until you're are getting value. The concept of selling your tickets for a venue that you have no intention of attending is not necessarily illegal. But...let's put all the scalpers in one place and let them compete among themselves for customers just like Wal-Mart has to compete with Target, etc. Bet you wouldn't see any more $300 Hannah Montana tickets.

Posted by: Mosey on Mar 20, 2008 at 02:43 PM
I say we all keep our bucks in our wallets and watch the games on TV.

Posted by: tom on Mar 20, 2008 at 01:39 PM
what is the diffrence in a local hotel up charging and make people pay for extended stay. THE Hilton charges 120 per night last I check it was well over 350 a night plus a 4 night stay. THis is the same as scalping.

Posted by: Todd on Mar 20, 2008 at 01:37 PM
So, it's terrible for someone to sell tickets outside of Rosenblatt or the Qwest center...but it's perfectly legal for a corporation to use sophisticated software to buy very large sums of tickets at face value on the web in order to artificially decrease supply and to mark them up considerably (ie the Hannah Montana concert). This sounds like a double standard here folks. It looks like the legislature is going to do nothing about this. Of course, they are very willing to increase penalties for the little guy selling outside the stadium (this legislation passed easily during the last session).

Posted by: RM on Mar 20, 2008 at 01:35 PM
The only reason scalpers can make any money is because some people are stupid enough to pay that much for tickets. If scalping is illegal then buying the tickets from a scalper should be illegal also sort of like prostitution laws .Maybe they should set up sting opperations and arrest people who offer to buy the tickets. Just get rid of the law and let the morons pay what ever the market will bear.

Posted by: Confussed on Mar 20, 2008 at 12:56 PM
This story makes me madder than heck! Last fall I received an email from huskers.com advertising they (ticket master) would sell me football tickets for the NU/USC game for $650 ea. I thought this was scalping so I contaced the NE Attorney General. Their office told me that was not SCALPING, anyone has the right to sell sporting event tickets at what ever price they want to. FREE ENTERPRISE Is the City of Omaha enforcing a law that is UNCONSTITUTIONAL? I'll be our city attorney got his complimentary tickets from Creighton U or Fahey and he is at the game right NOW!!!

Posted by: J on Mar 20, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Grew sounds very much like a scalper, er ticket broker....Supply & demand works just fine without people like these artificially driving prices up. You don't think the Police wouldn't have sold out with your kind buying up as many tickets as possible then tripling or quadrupling the price? Think more kids or families would be down at the Qwest today if you'd have allowed prices to be set naturally? It's just like the Stones, Hannah Montana & most of the Qwest events, the rich attend over & over & over while the majority of Omaha taxpayers can't afford to buy 4 tickets due to all those "good businessmen" who are skimming $$$ off us each & every show/game. Greed is the real American value system. Too bad the Qwest management won't ever limit sales to these lowlifes. You did offer a great suggestion though. I'll NEVER buy a ticket from one of these outlets. If enough of us do this, maybe some day we can go to the Qwest Center for face value!

Posted by: Jason on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Tom - Did you not read the few words after that which say the first priority is traffic control AND PUBLIC SAFETY?

Posted by: Anonymous on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:02 AM
It will be the same if a new ball staidum is built. We will have to pay for it through taxes so the scalpers can make money

Posted by: J on Mar 20, 2008 at 09:49 AM
Amen to Drew's comment. When people stop buying tickets at outrageous prices, scalpers will stop selling for outrageous prices. I'd rather hear that the police are concentrating their efforts on public safety. The bottom line is; if you don't like the price, don't buy 'em. But stop whining in the meantime.

Posted by: The Truth on Mar 20, 2008 at 09:40 AM
Scalpers are the lowest of the low. They snatch up tickets and inflate the prices. They provide no service whatsoever. They produce nothing. They artificially insert a middleman into the process where none need exist. I love to see when these leeches have to eat it on the prices, ala the NU-Auburn Cotton Bowl. To see the guy from Ticket Express whining on the news that Husker fans were not going in droves was truly a beautiful thing to see. P.S. This is precisly what happens when you offer tickets to one fanbase exclusively. There is no reason why Creighton fans should have been given all of those tickets. It's not their arena, its Omaha's.

Posted by: can't afford it on Mar 20, 2008 at 09:40 AM
Ever since the Qwest Center opened, that's all it ever was on "Big events" is FOR the Scalpers, so the qwest should be named Scalper Center. They should change it for the people that want to go to get tickets at the center and not on line, taht way everybody that comes to the center get the tickets on hand, limit the the number of ticket something like a 48 hours time limit. then open it up on line. Of course there will be scalpers selling the tickets, that bought the tickets 1st from the center. But 1st get rid of on line sales that just opened up publically, until the end of the 48 hours. it would be fair to the concert goers to get a chance to see thier favorite!

Posted by: Scumbags! on Mar 20, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Toss this slime in jail, and that goes for low-life's that sell at places like Ticket Express too!

Posted by: Tom on Mar 20, 2008 at 08:49 AM
First priority is traffic control at these events, I wonder what priority is muggings and rapes. Bet killings is way down on the bottom of the list of priorities. We need more donut shops in and around the Center and in North O.

Posted by: Drew on Mar 20, 2008 at 08:09 AM
I don't understand this law. This is how markets are made. Simple supply and demand. If you think $200 is too much for a ticket, don't buy it. If enough people don't pay the amount scalpers are asking, they'll have to lower their price. Buying something for a certain amount and then selling it for more than what you paid for it isn't a crime, it's good business.

Posted by: Liz on Mar 20, 2008 at 08:00 AM
Scalping is just supply meeting demand, just like prostitution. We need to philosophically examine why these things are illegal. The U.S.A. has become a nanny state, which is very bad, as citizens begin to abdicate their personal responsibilities.

Posted by: Gary on Mar 20, 2008 at 07:04 AM
Another story on something that we all know is happening. Don't we have more important stories to "investigate" out there? Until they start putting names/pics on tickets requiring ID to use there will always be scalping.

Posted by: Biff on Mar 20, 2008 at 07:02 AM
Worthless, there are people out there who think laws regarding theft are ridiculous. In their minds, they're probably just trying to make a buck, too.....do you advocate not bothering to bust those crooks? These people decide what laws apply to them and which don't - is that a good thing? Like it or not, there are scalping laws, and they need to be enforced.

Posted by: Creighton on Mar 20, 2008 at 06:58 AM
Maybe we wouldn't have this problem if the tickets would have been offered to the public instead of the Creighton ticket holders. So lets see, all the doctors and lawyers are making a buck since they have season tickets. Smart move!

Posted by: K on Mar 20, 2008 at 04:25 AM
We need continued rigorous enforcement of the laws that we have on the books in Omaha to prevent those scum that buy up all available tickets to an event and then rip off others to make a hefty profit. I'd like to see Omaha use more vice squads and undercover units to severely crack down on those few that abuse the system.

Posted by: Worthless_law on Mar 20, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Why do you make a big deal of this? This law is ridiculous just like Omaha's fake smoking ban with more holes than swiss cheese. It's America and if they want to make a buck, it doesn't seem all that awful. Maybe tickets should have been limited to only one pair per Creighton season-ticket holder???