For Jessica Allen, the Alabama Crimson Tide’s Nov. 5, 2011 matchup against Louisiana State University was the game of eight centuries.
“Last year I sold just my LSU ticket alone for $800 dollars, and it was more than worth the penalty I received for selling it,” Allen, a senior majoring in exercise and sport science, said. “I sold all of my tickets last year and made a great deal of profit.”
Allen is not the only UA student profiting from the pigskin.
Katherine Cahill, a higher education administration graduate student who also attended the University for her undergraduate studies, said she has sold “six or seven” tickets over the course of her college career. She sold her ticket to the Nov. 24 Iron Bowl game for $150.
“This last year, I sold [my tickets] at $5 because that is how much I paid for them,” Cahill said. “But now, as a poor graduate student, I need the money to pay for bills and such so I have been selling them for profit.”
According to rolltide.com, the official UA athletics website, students who upgrade their regular student ticket to a guest ticket four or more times during a season waive their right to purchase postseason or regular season tickets for the current and next seasons, respectively. Each upgrade also requires the payment of a game-specific upgrade price.
Despite these barriers to resale, Allen and Cahill are two of many University students who sell both upgrades and normal student tickets, often at a sizeable profit margin. According to ticket aggregator TiqIQ, as of Sunday, the average price for a single entry to Saturday’s Auburn game is $287. The UA Facebook network’s group Ticket Exchange alone includes 1,258 would-be buyers and sellers.
But Katherine Miles, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice and psychology, is not one of them.
“I don’t think students should be able to resale their tickets for a profit. I know there are plenty of student who purchase those packages just to sell them later, with no intent of going to any of the games themselves. Then, when big games such as LSU come around, students who weren’t able to get their package at the beginning of the semester are stuck paying upwards of $100 for a ticket that some people secured for $5,” she said. “Even if the selling price is only ten or twenty dollars more than what you paid, how is that fair to other students?”
Miles doesn’t just talk the talk – she walks the walk. She donated her ticket to the LSU game last year, even though her friends called her crazy for passing up the money.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to sell it, in all good conscience,” she said.
At several Southeastern Conference universities, a decision like Miles’ is the rule, rather than the exception. The official athletics websites for Florida and LSU expressly ban the resale of student tickets above the original price, and Kentucky does not allow any form of resale.
According to the Kentucky athletics website, “Scalping (selling a ticket above face value) violates University policy and Kentucky law. Selling or soliciting the sale of a ticket (even at face value) on campus without a permit also violates University policy. Therefore, a violation of these University policies or this Kentucky law may result in your ineligibility to purchase basketball or football tickets, even if criminal charges are not filed against you.”
South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt forbid selling tickets on or around stadium premises. The University of Alabama does not have a policy against student ticket resale aside from the upgrade penalty system.
“To say that we allow [student ticket resale] is misleading. The University does not condone that either,” Chris Besanceney, assistant athletic director for tickets and Tide Pride, said. “Once the consumer buys the ticket, they alone make those choices. As does anyone in the marketplace.”
Ticket resale policy is ultimately determined by state law. Individual states have different laws and statutes regarding scalping, by which colleges must abide.
Besanceney said the University had not considered enacting a rule to disallow students from selling tickets for profit, because it is a “legal issue” and “Athletics does not make policy in that area.”
According to Alabama Code Section 40-12-167, “Any person offering for sale or selling tickets at a price greater than the original price and who is commonly known as a ticket scalper shall pay a license tax of $100.”
Alex Perez, a senior majoring in management information systems, feels moral regulation should hold more weight in the matter than administrative authority. Perez, who bought a ticket from another student for the 2012 homecoming game versus Mississippi State, said he thinks allowing students to resell tickets helps prevent wasted seats by moving tickets from students who won’t use them to those who will, and earning a little money out of the deal is not a bad thing. But, Perez said, even good things have their limits.
“It’s one thing to sell an upgraded ticket to an alumni for $80-$100, but most students don’t have that much disposable income. Most of them are living off of their parents, and they’re in the same position, working hard to afford school just like you,” he said. “Students shouldn’t jack up the prices for other students. When you want to sell your ticket, I think you have to make that moral decision.”
