MARLIN FANS: Online ticket sales leave fans in line on sidelines

[Louis Cypher]

Posted on Tue, Oct. 07, 2003

By DAVID KIDWELL
dkidwell@herald.com

In-line fans are beaten out by online buyers

Anyone looking for tickets to the sold-out Marlins-Cubs playoff games better fire up their eBay accounts or call a broker -- going rates for the cheap seats were $100 or more by Monday afternoon, more than 10 times face value.

It turns out that hundreds of baseball fans who camped out on sidewalks all night long for the best seats should have been online instead of in line.

While box-office clerks struggled with slow computers and irate Marlins fans, thousands of Chicago Cubs fans swooped in on the World Wide Web. Tickets to the National League Championship Series went on sale at noon Sunday simultaneously at the stadium and on Ticketmaster.com.

Some Marlins fans are outraged, saying the team should have done more to give its own fans an advantage.

''People are going to be shocked when they see how many Cubs fans are in the stands on Friday,'' said Laurence Leavy, who was among about 500 fans who spent all night Saturday and all morning Sunday in line for disappointing seats.

``I think it's terrible the Marlins let this happen.''

By the time Leavy and others got to the ticket window about an hour later, all but the cheap seats were already gone -- courtesy of the Web.

It's playoff time, and seats don't sit around.

''The tickets went on sale at noon, and the Cubs game didn't even start until 8 on Sunday,'' said Sean Flynn, Marlins vice president for marketing. ``We thought that window gave local Marlins fans plenty of opportunity to get their tickets before the Cubs fans started making plans.''

Ticketmaster could not say Monday how many Midwesterners snatched up the South Florida tickets, but by noon eBay was loaded with hundreds of inflated ticket deals from all over the country, and prices from ticket brokers ranged from $300 to $950.

''I think it's fair to say that it doesn't pay to stand in line all night for tickets anymore,'' Flynn said. ``While you're waiting to get to the window, people on the Internet are getting all the good seats.''

Tickets for the Marlins' three home games sold out within hours after the Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves Sunday night to clinch a berth in the series. By dawn Monday it was too late.

Flynn said Marlins executives discussed limiting early sales to South Florida to give Marlins fans an advantage, but opted against that idea because the Marlins clinched their berth so early, on Saturday. But he said the ''overwhelming majority'' of fans at Pro Player Stadium on Friday and Saturday will be Marlins fans.

Leavy and several others who managed to get tickets after waiting in line all night were disappointed with their seats -- all in the upper deck.

''You'd think after waiting all night to be first in line you could at least score some infield box seats,'' he said. ``Where did all those tickets go?''

Odalis Sanchez, who arrived at the stadium Saturday evening to begin her all-night ordeal in line, blames ticket scalpers.

''I wish I had a video camera with me last night,'' she said. ``You wouldn't believe it. The ticket brokers dropped off homeless people to jump in line.

''We were literally scared of them,'' she said. ``They started jumping in line and threatening people. I called the police, but no one came.''

According to Sanchez and her sister Diane Dominguez, about five ticket brokers drove up about 10 minutes before the ticket windows opened at noon Sunday, gathered up their contingents of homeless and cut in line with wads of cash to cover the 10-ticket-per-person limit.

''They just walked right up to the front,'' Sanchez said. ``Everybody started yelling and screaming, and they just smiled and kept on going. It looked to us like they knew people in the booth.''

Marlins executives said they had not heard of allegations of ticket scalping, but said that the Internet is the reason those in line were disappointed.

Tickets are still available for a price -- eBay ''Buy Now'' prices ranged from $100 per ticket for $9 seats to as high as $500 per seat for lower-level seats.

Miami brokers were charging more: $950 for Founders Seats near the field; $650 for infield box seats; and $300 to $600 for club-level seats.

Gary Adler, a lobbyist for the National Association of Ticket Brokers, said his clients get tickets from various sources, including season-ticket holders.

''But mostly, they buy them online just like everybody else,'' he said.