Re: St Louis Finalist for 2013 or 2014 Frozen Four
You can talk about Stubhub all you want. The internet ticketing thing is part of the problem. Sure the success of the Red Sox has resulted in the tix being scooped up earlier and the prices being higher, but you're also putting a lot of faith that the regular public has on the internet. Despite the technological times, polls show that a good portion of the general public absolutely refuses to buy something on the internet and put their credit card information out there because of trust issues and failure to be protected of credit fraud (TJX is a big offender and they are a local company so that doesn't help the situation). And that's the portion that does have computers and internet access.
Like I was inferring before, live in Boston and you'll know what the Bostonians are talking about. Any yahoo can link to stubhub and say tickets are available easily. Bottom line, they are not THAT easy to get unless you want to overpay ("BUT LOOK, $10 seats are on stubhub right NOW!!!!!!" ... We know...). And most people aren't willing to do that. Most other places don't have this problem because you can go to the stadium, walk up and buy tix at face value and walk into the game.
This has got to be the dumbest excuse I ever heard in my life. But then, I always considered Red Sox fans to be very stupid.
Are you freaking kidding me? Because all these people are terrified of credit card fraud, no one is willing to buy Red Sox tickets on the Internet?!?!
This whole fear mongering of online transactions is ridiculous. The chances of your credit card number getting stolen in a restaurant when the waiter brings your card and check to the back room to run it is way higher than anything online. The Mob has been known to pay off waiters to do just that. Convenience stores with gas stations have been known to run an intercept on the line between the pay at the pumps and the computer back in the store that runs the numbers.
The only time my credit card number was ever stolen was on vacation in Paris. Apparently, when my card was run on a portable machine in a restaurant, it was either stored on the device or intercepted on the wireless connection to the clearing house. The thieves took the number, and then proceeded to stamp out their own credit card with that number.
So, while I was enjoying Paris, someone else was enjoying a French Mediterranean seaside resort vacation on my credit card. VISA security was onto it relatively quickly (they thought it odd that the same credit card was being used for two different vacation designations in France at the same time). I had a phone call waiting for me when I got home, and it was quickly taken care of. I did not pay a single dollar on any of the fraudulant charges. And it added up to quite a bit.
As for Stub Hub. I LOVE it. This past winter I was on a business trip in NJ. I had not been to a Rangers game (my favorite team) in MSG for a very long time, so I decided to try and get a ticket. Checked out Stub Hub, and bought one the day of the game (against the Devils no less!) in the upper section (where I wanted to sit) for just a few dollars under face value (I suspect the season ticket holder still didn't lose money as I assume they get a bit of a discount being a season ticket holder).
Without Stub Hub, I probably would not have gone, as I probably would not have wanted to deal with the scalpers (last time I did in front of MSG, the guy tried to sell me drugs instead!), nor would have known if anything was available and thus wasted a trip into Manhattan. It's also a great thing for season ticket holders as they have an easy and safe means to unload tickets they don't want, even at the last minute.
Nothing happened to my credit card. And I had a GREAT time.
But you Red Sox fans can keep sitting at home wishing you could see a game because you are a bunch of scaredy cats to use the Internet...
Freaking hysterical!
If that's the case, you're worse off than I thought... 
