Wisconsin Scalping Laws For Badger Games

Below are simply my opinions are are not to be taken as the rule of law. If you ticket scalp, do your own homework first.

I had a conversation with a friend the other day and the subject of the legality of ticket scalping came up. I consider scalping to be selling the ticket for any amount over face value. Selling tickets up to the face value is absolutely legal and fine. Lets troll the tubes and see what we can find. For this piece I will focus on UW football tickets.

Huh, not much in the Wisconsin State Statutes besides a law that says you are allowed to sell the tickets for less than face. They do specifically prohibit scalping tickets to the Wisconsin State Fair. Must be a local issue then for the rest, I am assuming.

On the back of my UW Football tickets there is one sentence that says "Ticket scalping is prohibited". Pretty open ended if you ask me.

This is an interesting article from 2003. Theres this:

The UW System administrative code outlaws the resale of Wisconsin event tickets for more than face value, and the sale of any item is illegal in the city of Madison without a permit.

Well, the part about the sale of any item is clearly false, as the laws of the state of Wisconsin clearly state that you can sell your tickets for anything under face. I suppose the city of Madison could get snotty about arresting folks if they don't have a permit, but that would draw a lot of ire and I would think that the cops really don't want all that paperwork every football Saturday.

This article is interesting, but doesn't really get into the meat of the laws. Seems people are upset about the students scalping their tickets.

Aha! I did find in the UW system bylaws this sentence, wihch is bylaw 18.08(12)(b) - "No person may buy or sell a ticket or other evidence of the right of entry for more than the price printed upon the face of the ticket". But there aren't any penalties listed. And who can arrest you (if you are caught in the act)? UW Police? Lots of empty space there.

So scalping UW football tix looks to be illegal, but the teeth are missing from the equation. But this brings me to the Wisconsin Athletic Football Ticket Marketplace. If you go here, you can buy Wisconsin football tickets for face value. But the people who are selling the tickets only get 85% of the money, the UW keeping the other 15%. I know this because since I am a season ticket holder, I received an email from the UW Athletic Department that said that if I was a "donor" of at least $50 per year to the athletic department I could participate.

Isn't this scalping though? The UW already got full face value for the tickets, and now will be getting another 15% vig from these sales? At the very least, shouldn't anyone now be able to sell their tickets for 15% over face? As a side note, just wait for a week or two and look at the available tickets for the Wofford game - they will be raining from the sky and there is NO WAY that anyone will get face value for those. The email I received states that they will also be setting up marketplaces for men's hoops and pucks. Nothing for women's sports, but nobody goes to those events anyway - but that is a different subject for a different post.

This type of "marketplace" is typical though, as NFL teams have been scalping their own tickets for a long time through Stubhub. In the most reckless and bold self scalping escapade, the Cubs withheld many of their prime tickets, to be sold by a ticket agency they themselves set up.

It's OK for me, but not for thee, as I like to say.