NYC to Deregulate Ticket Scalping

New Yorkers can expect to start dishing out even more for sporting events, concerts and Broadway shows as the State Senate prepares to reassess its current ticket scalping laws. Albany is expected to approve a bill passed earlier this week by the State Assembly allowing ticket scalpers to ultimately name their price.

The existing 45 percent limit would be lifted in hopes of eradicating the industry's gray market and black market business practices and create a free market where anyone can participate.

The bill also has the overwhelming support of both Madison Square Garden and Broadway theater owners who anticipate street prices to level off rather than escalate. But organizations such as The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) think otherwise.

"Were going to see higher and higher prices, particularly for the hot events, the one-time concerts, the big sporting events," Geoff Boehm , counsel to NYPIRG, New York State's largest student-directed consumer, environmental and government reform group, told CBS News.

New York State already allows operators of venues to manage internet websites to resell tickets within the maximum reselling price and add a reasonable service charge. With the newfound freedom, scalpers will no longer need to hide behind internet loopholes or regulations. The state will continue to prohibit the resale of tickets within 1,500 feet of a venue seating more than 5,000, but does allow operators to designate reselling areas within that zone.

With face value already as high as $254.50 for a single ticket to see The Police at Madison Square Garden via Ticketmaster and a 2008 wait for popular Broadway shows such as Wicked, it would seem the temperature won't be the only thing to rise this summer.

According to Pollstar, concert figures alone hit a record $3.6 billion in 2006, a sixteen percent increase over the previous year's total.

Popular online agencies such as Stub Hub (stubhub.com) are already charging a premium under current internet policies with prices soaring in excess of $8,800.00 for a single floor seat to see that same Police performance at Madison Square Garden -yes, the one with the $254.50 price tag mentioned previously. Not a big surprise considering Stub Hub reported a 95% increase in gross sales of concert tickets in 2006. But the eBay owned company and its competitors won't be the only internet retailers to benefit. The upcoming lift will open the doors to amateur online opportunists as well.

Bend over New York!