Manage Delivery
Buyer, beware.
And the seller should, too – especially when dealing in “used” merchandise.
Police detained two men outside Kauffman Stadium during the first inning of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, after several people identified them as scalpers who sold them tickets that were rejected at the stadium turnstiles.
Kansas City police Capt. Steve Young said the tickets appeared to be real but “double used,” meaning someone had already used them for entry to the game. Police seized 15 tickets and interviewed at least three possible victims.
Pat Solomon, of Omaha, looked on as police questioned the suspects and took statements from witnesses. He said one of the men, earlier in the afternoon, had offered him a ticket in the club level for $400.
Solomon didn’t buy. He had come out to the ballpark hoping to score a reasonably priced ticket, as he did last night, finding a Home Run Derby ticket for $150.
On Tuesday, he said, he was out of luck. The $300 and $500 tickets he found on sale around the stadium were out of his price range.
“Plan B,” he said, “is Buffalo Wild Wings. Get some chicken wings and save a hundred bucks.”
Solomon and other fans said they walked away from some other questionable deals, too. A ticket seller on Craigslist offered Solomon and a friend a pair of electronic tickets if they wired $600.
No sale.
And Matt Clune, of Kansas City, turned away from a man selling printouts of electronic tickets for $600.
“Yeah, right,” Clune said.
All in all, fans around the stadium found the market for tickets thin Tuesday. Scalpers continued to work alongside the Interstate 70 exit near the stadium, but they kept a low profile.
City police, along with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Missouri state troopers and the FBI, were out in force around the stadium, enforcing a city ordinance banning ticket reselling within a mile of the game.
One of the most cautious deals began with one man finding potential buyers near the highway then directing them to the bar of a nearby hotel. He gave them a description of a man who had seats in section 207 to sell.
For most, the only safe way to get a ticket on game day was to have already bought one from a trusted source.
John Campbell of Overland Park was one of the very last fans to pick up a ticket from the temporary outpost of ticket broker Tickets for Less, operating near the lobby of the Clarion Hotel.
Brian Nelson, a company representative, was helping run the outlet, but only to distribute tickets, he said, that had already been sold online. Legitimate brokers also were forbidden to sell tickets that close to the stadium.
Nelson had two tickets for Campbell: $900 seats in section 223. Campbell said he was taking his wife to the game.
“This is my first chance to go to an All-Star Game,” he said. “We’re living a lifetime moment.”
At least one ticket seller said he wasn’t working the All-Star Game.
Ed Wilson, of Kansas City, has been reselling college football tickets for 20 years. He was there for the All-Star Game, but not working.
“I don’t want any trouble with the police,” he said. “It’d be a shame if I got arrested.”
