BLACKSBURG — Got $157.25?
If so, you might be eligible to have two general admission tickets to “A Concert for Virginia Tech” mailed to you from Illinois.
That price — current as of Monday afternoon on eBay — includes a $9 shipping fee, but wannabe concertgoers better act fast.
People with tickets to sell have been bombarding the auction site, as well as other online classifieds and social-networking sites such as Facebook, looking for prospective buyers. People hunting for tickets aren’t letting price slow them down, either.
And when 5,000 tickets go on sale today for $65 apiece, the online rates can be expected to soar. . .
Proceeds from the public tickets will help offset a portion of the close to $1 million cost of the otherwise free show, a spokeswoman for the university said Monday.
The concert is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 6 and will feature Dave Matthews Band, Nas, John Mayer and Phil Vassar. Each performer has donated his time, but logistics such as providing ticket-takers, lighting and staging crews do cost, spokeswoman Cecelia Hovis said.
If all of the tickets sell, the school could take in $325,000, but that’s just about a third of the total cost. Concert T-shirts, a second round of maroon Hokies United T-shirts and corporate sponsorships are supposed to pay for the rest, Hovis said.
Sumeet Bagai, a member of Hokies United and a 2007 graduate, said his organization chose to sell 30,000 more of its memorial shirts on their own and that donating part of that $10-a-shirt cost is a natural fit.
“At Hokies United, our goal … is to continue to bring the community together. I think it’s important for outlets to be there,” he said.
That group put $200,000 toward the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund through its first round of sales. The second round of shirts will be available until Sept. 9.
None of the money from that fund will be used to pay for the concert.
“We knew the concert was looking for sponsors, and we just think this is a way to support the concert, which ultimately supports the community,” Bagai said.
Full Story: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/129738
