(This story was updated on January 14, 2010 at 9:18 pm EST)
The baseball season is months away, but the Milwaukee Brewers are already asking Wisconsin legislators to step up the plate and bat ticket scalpers out of the park.
Currently, Wisconsin only prohibits the resale of state fair tickets, according to TicketNews’s exclusive Ticket Resale Laws report. But, now the state is considering beefing up the ticket scalping law to help the team with an alleged nuisance problem with some ticket resellers.
Over the past several years, state after state altered their ticket scalping laws, usually making them more lenient and consistent with a free-market approach, in part due to the internet becoming the dominant way that tickets were bought and resold. At the same time, some states cracked down on street scalping in an effort to clean up the areas around stadiums and arenas.
Wisconsin was one of the states, designating an area next to Miller Park where the Brewers play, for ticket resale. Outside of that area, ticket resale is outlawed, but only if the seller is trying to get more than face value.
There in lies the problem, team officials and state legislators told the Associated Press. Fans have complained to the team that some street scalpers have been overly aggressive and abusive, but if they’re trying to unload tickets for face value or less, the team was powerless to prosecute them.
Legislators are looking to tighten up that loophole by strengthening the law to make it easier for the municipality to enforce the matter, regardless of what a scalper is charging for the ticket. Repeat offenders would be fined and face banishment from the area around Miller Park.
State Sen. Jim Sullivan is co-sponsoring an amendment to the state law and told the Associated Press that the majority of ticket resellers are not the problem, only “a handful of specific” abusers.
“We’re not going to allow people to take away from the experience of going to a game with your family because you are going to be harassed by heavy-handed sales tactics,” Sullivan said.
The state’s most popular team, the Green Bay Packers faced a similar problem but improved the situation by requiring brokers to pay for a license to resell tickets.
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this is ridiculous and just another way for the greedy Brewers to get their hands on more consumer tax payer money. If someone is selling a ticket for a sold out event or under face value for a non sold out event there should be no penalty at all. These tickets have already been purchased one way or another so whats the loss. I understand the harassment by some of the scalpers but that is going to happen regardless especially in a place like Milwaukee where fans feel they should be able to get in for less than face value. For anyone that has ever been in the zone at miller park, you know that you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than selling a ticket in there. You are competing with guys that have not only been selling tickets for years but who rely on that income as sometimes a a primary source. If i have some left over tickets and am not out ripping people off or selling fake tickets their should not be a problem. If anyone knows or can suggest where to write to fight this, please let me know.
Does anyone proofread these articles? “beefing up the law ticket scalping law” “they team was powerless to prosecute them.”
I am a season ticket holder and specifically wrote the Brewers to show frustration against these over-aggressive ticket resellers. I’ve had several of these people actually knocking on the window of my car before we put the car in park yelling in asking if we want to buy tickets. To me, this is frustrating and unwanted. When the resale is restricted to one area, I can avoid that area if I already have a ticket. The parking attendants actually need to remove these sellers in order to allow the next car to park. I believe there needs to be select areas for resale regardless of the price. People who want the tickets can find those that have them.