Yeah I have seen lots of those professional guys at the games. How can they possibly make $$? Are people selling tickets to them at way below face value? We talked to one guy last year, he was from LA, and comes to Ames every friday just to broker tickets on gameday.
Below value... and sometimes it wouldnt surprise me if they have a deal worked out directly with the AD.
Nope promise they don't.
Almost all of those guys are at Twins/Vikes games as well. I talked to one of them last fall because I had seen him on the way to Target Field the day before.
What's your hypothesis? I just don't see the upside for the AD.
Interesting. He has to making some good money to fly out and probably stay in a hotel a couple nights. I wouldn't be surprised if he is clearing several thousand for working a couple days.
The out-of-town-guys (like the one with the Cal hat) ride bikes around the parking lots asking for extra tickets. I can't imagine giving my extra ones to them, but somebody must be doing it. They don't even seem to pretend like they care about the game and can't be offering much for the tickets.
That guy is a good guy. However I'll explain what he is doing and why he isn't getting some secret deal from ISU or even giving ISU much money.
Corey is a good guy and I am sure gets some secondary from the department.
All schools do it.
Sounds like we are taking seriously an idea that was just conjecture. Does anyone have any evidence to support the idea of the AD making a deal with scalpers to sell extra tickets?
The only way that I know of these guys getting tickets is from the ticket shops that buy season tickets and the guys who ride bikes around the parking lots trying to sweep up extras.
I can answer these questions.
The people who pound the pavement on gameday rely on fans with extras who don't want to spend 20 minutes standing on a corner hawking tickets. They are guaranteed to double/triple their money on any tickets they purchase from a fan.
There is no sweetheart deals with the AD. That is complete conjecture. The deals come from fans who are not professional brokers and don't want to spend 20 minutes selling their tickets.
Even games where there is no sellout and the scalpers can't get face they will still be out in force because they know there will be fans with extra tickets willing to sell them for peanuts. So you'll see them outside a half empty metrodome/target field.
Finally, many of the people in the parking lot support the school/AD FAR FAR FAR less than a season ticket holder who (intentionally) buys lots of seats resells because they show up to the game with literally NOTHING planning to profit on extras fans bring. They might bring 10 hillsides to the game and wait to get the rest of their inventory from fans (non professional sellers.) They take little/no risk. They also know they won't eat tickets because there will be someone late to the game without tickets in the middle of the first quarter who wants to buy their surplus for less than a box office ticket.
That said... the guys who do it at ISU are fine. A couple guys are crackheads and will show up with literally nothing but 20 bucks or 2 hillsides and try and make money but the ones there seriously are all OK people. Other cities the event scalpers can get more aggressive. These guys are nice enough. They are just there looking to find tickets for cheap and make quick money.
BUT... people should understand they do not buy in bulk/donate as much as many of you think. Almost none of them will show up with a huge stack of tickets to sell. WHY? Because they want to buy more and if they donated a lot to ISU and bought huge bulk of tickets they wouldn't want/need all the extras they can get for cheap from fans in the lots.
So basically they rely on fans in the parking lot for their inventory. I promise you they do not donate or have sweetheart deals with the AD by any means. A season ticket holder intentionally reselling takes much bigger risks and has to give a lot more money to the team in order to profit. (4 non-hillside seasons is costing a couple weeks wages for most...so imagine what 40 would cost.)
