MANILA, Philippines — At Sunday’s Game 1 in the best-of-three UAAP collegiate finals series, the Ateneo Blue Eagles drew first blood over rival La Salle Green Archers. In an article by Marlon Ramos, five suspected scalpers were caught allegedly selling tickets for P1,500–20 times the ticket’s face value of P75. Still, in another report by Jasmine Payo, two patron tickets, originally priced at P350, were sold at P25,000.
As a paradox, the blockbuster game showcased talents for game play that every fan would want to witness and be part of. Likewise, this paves way for opportunists to get into the business of selling overpriced tickets. It could be a simple case of symbiosis, or the law of supply and demand: die-hard fans buy overpriced tickets from scalpers to watch the game at the court and rally for their teams. Building up team spirit? For scalpers, this is an opportunity to sell overprized tickets to fans before the fight begins.
Genius or madness?
A blog written by DLSU graduate Paul Garilao cited a LaSallian October 2002 article on scalpers. Mang Jimmy, a scalper for over eight years, travels from Cavite to DLSU to get spare tickets from professors and students. The tickets he sold during the 2002 game have a scalped price below:
According to the blog, the scalper earned as much as P20,000 (in 2002) from scalping when game favorites such as Ateneo and La Salle play in the court. It is reasonable to add up some more figures to that if its finals seasons.
The scalping market continues to exist alongside each game. Each ballgame has two faces: a celebration of each team’s finest and an opportunity to earn big. Scalpers, in essence, will never run out of business as long as there will be people who can pay the price for their desired game tickets. Is this genius or madness? Who’s the winner and who’s the loser? You answer.
6 Feedbacks on "UAAP: Genius, madness in scalping"
Martin
It’s hard to say that it’s one or the other. Basically, it depends on how you view things. But I think it’s more of scalpers being cunning and buyers being gullible (some, even stupid). Whether people like to admit it or not, scalping will always be an “industry” because there will always be demand for tickets, especially when big games are lined-up (e.g., ateneo-lasalle).
Besides, if there are people willing to buy a P350 ticket for P20,000, who wouldn’t be tempted to scalp? If I got one, I definitely wouldn’t mind selling it for a lot of money. It’s a means to an end. It isn’t right. It’s probably immoral, but still, it is a means to end.
chillmanila
I know Mang Jimmy!
boy
Genius for the Scalper, madness for the buyer of the scalp ticket!
Who’s the loser and who’s the winner you ask, just watch the ball game on TV to find it out. hehehe!
rex
these guys have money.. let them pay…
elmer d sangalang
Scalping is bad because it is unethical opportunism, pure and simple. If a person is not really interested in watching the game while it happens where it happens, he has no reason or business to purchase a ticket in the first place. He’s robbing another person of the legitimate right to the simple joy of watching the game live.
The customer of the scalper is likewise culpable. He abets the practice of scalping by his willingness to pay the higher price. It’s no different from paying the kidnapper a ransom or bribing the corrupt police officer to be absolved from a traffic violation.
Hopefully, in the distant future, with the aid of computer technology and the willingness of all parties concerned, the practice of scalping can be prevented. Presentation of an ID should be required when a ticket is purchased in advance, which serves to register the ticket buyer. And the ID should likewise be demanded at the entrance on game day to verify if the ticket holder is the legitimate ticket owner.
jin
i agree with elmer salansang
if you just let scalping have their way then why not let bribing to local government institutions be legalized?
its a form of taking advantage. and i know there are still lots of people who don’t care whether other people are being took advantage with, until it happens to them.
always apply the golden rules amongst yourselves. if you its ok with you being on the losing end all the time, then let it just happen to you and not to the majority of people who wants to live a life of fairness and equality.
well since ateneans and lasallites have both wealthy students, why not request for something like tickets could only be sold through credit cards or atm’s?
maybe it could reduce, if not totally eliminate, the dreaded scalping industry
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