That long line for playoff tickets in the Rose Quarter
Ben at Blazers Edge has photos, taken around 3 a.m. and word now from the guys at the MSP is that the line may be 1,000 people strong at this point.
I think it’s great that people who are willing to stand in line all night could be rewarded with playoff tickets. But I have to confess, my biggest worry is that in today’s reality all the people in the front of the line are professional ticket scalpers, who are ready to gobble up those tickets and resell them at huge profits — perhaps even to fans of the Houston Rockets.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | April 16, 2009
it was a mix. the closer to the very front of the line, it seemed, the more scalpers. roughly the first 250 people in line will get tickets as most everyone was buying the max tickets allowed — many were adamant they weren’t selling, no matter what price offered. a few were saying they would be stupid not to sell — given that they will get 8x to 10x face value, probably.
but there was a lot of fans out there (a majority). and a lot of excitement.
people were already making plans for standing in line the next time tickets open up…
I hope you are right, Ben, that there are a lot of real fans out there in line. But, and I’ve done a lot of research for stories on ticket scalpers, most of them don’t cop to it. They’re taught to act like big fans and not to tell people what they’re doing. And not all of them look like drug dealers, either (only about half). One true way to tell: certainly if they’re NOT buying the max allowed, they’re not scalpers.
– Dwight
I can understand the excitement of the Blazers returning to the playoffs, but is a Downtown RALLY really needed? They really haven’t won anything yet so it seems a bit over the top and premature.
What is next a parade for a 1 round win?
The team seems to be a good group of men, but this rally is too much chest thumping in my opinion.
Re scalping, one could argue that the Blazers themselves are in on it. Go the team webiste and look for the “ticket resale center”. The tickets are priced well above face value…some WAY above…some are available via a fixed rate and some are via auctions. Each transaction generates a flat “order fee” and “15% service fee” to “Blazers Marketplace”.
Certainly, a lot of people are going to buy 4 tickets and sell 2 of them for twice what they paid. While not pro scalpers they still do a disservice to their fellow fans. This was part of my justification for buying season tickets. I love my team but I hate scalpers, pro or otherwise. Any extra tickets I don’t use get passed on to friends or family for zero profit. However, I have found that tickets are a good bartering tool when asking for favors.
Jake,
This rally is just as much for the fans as it is the players. Look at how far we have come? We have had some real gut-wrenching times. The Whittsit/Jailblazer era, paul allen seriously considering selling the time, our neighbors seattle losing their franchise…it has been a rough time
Now our team has matured and evolved. Our franchise has worked hard in bringing in good character guys, and were clearly headed in the right direction
Your right Jake, we haven’t won a championship yet. However, we have a team that we can respect, love and support without ANY reservation. I think a celebration is in order!
In such tough economic times, this couldn’t be better timing for our state
The unemployed masses representing the fan base….
No argument there, Biff, the Blazers are totally in on it.
From an email that I, as a season ticket holder, received today:
The resale center is now open for you to post your tickets for the 2009 NBA playoffs. With the playoffs being in such high demand, we are ever striving to make the Ticket Resale Center the safest and most reliable place to sell and buy Trail Blazers playoff tickets. Anyone planning on using another secondary ticket provider needs to be aware that if the tickets they purchase are not valid or fraudulent, they will not be accommodated at the Rose Garden. Only tickets purchased on the Ticket Resale Center are fully guaranteed entry into the Rose Garden.
We are taking multiple steps to ensure that you are not affected by any fraudulent transactions, including additional checks and balances as part of the purchase and delivery of tickets. We have posted new terms and conditions to the web site for the resale center with updated fees of 10% of the entire sale for sellers which will put the Trail Blazers in a position to protect our consumers at the highest level possible.
The Trail Blazers Ticket Resale Center remains the most reliable, secure and competitively priced option for our season ticket holders to resell their tickets.
They ended up limiting the tickets to 4 total per person, so that limited scalpers options. I think most people genuinely were buying tickets to use, maybe some unprofessional scalpers. However, there was a group of about 20-25 guys who were definitely pro scalpers. They had a scalper pimp/kingpin, he came with food for all of them, they reported to him about the 4 tickets total vs 4 per game, and apologized to him for it, because presumably he would get less profit from it all.
Worst part of it was these guys were the rudest fans there. They are the ones in all the news coverage from the morning just following the reporters around screaming.
But after 12.5 hours of waiting, I got my tickets. Everyone who stayed overnight should have got them, and thats great.
Except for those scalpers (half of whom did not stay overnight but latched on to that group in the morning).
Jake,
The fact that so many people turned out justifies the rally does it not? I’m sure they had other uses of their time…at least some of them.
I was the first person in line and waited a full 24 hours for tickets. I won’t sell my tickets to anyone. I have them for family and friends. I am proud to be a blazer fan and would have waited longer if I needed too. Yes I saw the scalpers, but there wasn’t a lot of them in the front, a few yes. Then the homeless dudes who got $50 a piece from someone to stay in line for them. I loved every minute of waiting. Talking to fans all night and making friends. I they would sell them at the ticket box office again sigh but online next time. Thanks for everyone who camped out! Thanks also to the nice staff who had coffee and donuts ready for us.
RIP CITY UPRISE