The Badger Herald has named the names of the worst people on the University of Wisconsin. Seems that these people had the audacity to engage in arbitrage of Wisconsin Badger bowl tickets.
The above students had the nerve to put their Rose Bowl tickets up for sale on Facebook Marketplace within two hours of tickets selling out. Face value was $150. Some were trying to get the tickets for more than $400 a pop.
Truly, there is a special place in Hell for people who buy Rose Bowl tickets with the sole intention of profiting from them. It is entirely unfair to those who actually love this football team and were counting on a cheap face value ticket in order to make the trip to Pasadena an economic reality.
Who was this brave person who outed the dastardly students? Well it was none other than someone named Staff, so I shall call this genderless, anonymous person Herald Staff.
I have to wonder about someone who finds it so distasteful when someone engages in voluntary trade for gain. I’m sure Herald Staff has never, ever made any exchange in which Herald knowingly came out ahead. Herald never paid $2 for a burger that Herald valued at more than $2. Herald never took pay for a job when Herald was willing to work for less. That would make Herald a bad person.
However, if Herald Staff has acted in this sinful manner, Herald needs to name Herald Staff in the list and find a space in that special place in hell reserved for all of us who engage in voluntary trade.
Cross posted at Market Power
Herald Staff obviously hails from The People’s Republic of Wisconsin.
Not an economist here. Just a fan.
Can’t defend publishing the list and then not taking responsibility. But then it is
It does not appear that the offense is “trade for gain”. The offense is one of leveraging access to tickets intended for Badgers fans to support their team by students who have no other motive than to make a profit. I see nothing wrong in outing these students. They did nothing wrong, correct?
In grad school at Wisconsin I kept meaning to apply for football tickets to sell the big games at a profit then go to a couple of early season games. But I kept missing the lottery. I think during my time there they started requiring a student ID for the student section.
That said I did make a fair amount selling parking spaces on my lawn.
Go Bucky!
It was probably safe to stay anonymous, as college students can get a little rowdy over nothing, but literally posting names is pretty bad. To write an article about the subject of students selling tickets for profit is one thing, but to place their names in what I assume is a well read paper.
That said, as an Oregon Duck, I would be livid if I saw students were selling their football tickets for higher than face value. Talk about not having school spirit. Make a quick buck and stomp on your colleagues’ face at the same time!
Naive sanctimony from people with little experience in sports ticket markets; this goes on everywhere in every sport and has for a long long time.
More surprising is the utter lack of knowledge of this particular market (2011 Rose Bowl). TCU has a small alumni base and will struggle to bring 20,000 fans- about half of what most teams bring. Additionally, local interest will be low without a PAC10 team. Tickets for this game will be abundant and cheap on the ground, and I’d be shocked if anyone buying tickets on site on gateway paid even face value.
If I was a UW fan I would be excited knowing that this ticket market will be extremely soft and that I will have no problem buying my tickets at face value. With TCU, the Rose has its work cut out this year to fill its 100,000 seats.
Herald Staff obviously hails from The People’s Republic of Wisconsin.