Has anyone bought tickets from a scalper outside the RG on game night?

[chris_in_pdx]

I've always been curious about the deals you can get from these guys, and the risk of being scammed. Anyone done it?

 

[Rhal]

Not since 99-02 when I could get 300 level for under 10 bucks.

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

I usually try to buy tickets from someone before they offload them to the scalper.

 

[jlprk]

They are real tickets, and not counterfeits. Used to work fine, when I went to Vancouver Grizzly games.

 

[SantaDora]

They are real tickets, and not counterfeits. Used to work fine, when I went to Vancouver Grizzly games.

This explains why they moved that franchise to Memphis - if they were willing to honor scalped tickets of another team...

 

[KingSpeed]

Not the RG, but I got scammed twice in one night in NYC. I took to the streets to buy a ticket to Blazers/Knicks. I bought a ticket but it was counterfeit. Didn't have the water mark on it. So I lost that money. Then I went to another scalper who showed me the water mark and so I bought the ticket, but after I bought it, I noticed it was for Knicks/Vancouver! I then went to a this scalper and bought a real ticket. And I did go to Knicks/Vancouver later that season.

 

[soona]

I used to quite a bit - going back to Shaquille O'Neal's first game here, through the Drexler era and unto the Jail Blazers era. Then I had season tix for three years, which I gave up two years ago, and haven't scalped since.

There is generally no "scam" involved - they're just trying to get the best deal they can. At least a couple of the guys are - or claim to be - members of the Better Business Bureau or something. Some of them will have seating charts - at least one has a laminated seat chart around his neck.

My plan of attack was this:

1. Bring your own seating chart and don't let them rush you. Be sure you verify where the seats are. For Shaq's first game here (Mem Col) he said it was the bottom of the top level when it was literally against the back upper wall. Lesson learned. They will tell you Row A is the first row when there are really rows AA to what, EE? - first. Or they'll say row F is 6th row when it's really, what, 11th?

2. Bring cash and I would spread it in my pockets and not have to flash a roll when you are claiming poverty.

3. BE PREPARED TO NOT GO IN! If you show up close to - or even after tip off - and are willing to walk away, they'll make deals - even lower level, or premium seats - rather than eat them. But if you are there early, with a date, in your jerseys and all fired up to get in, they'll smell desperation and price accordingly.

They'll try to get you to name the first price - they'll never start with a price. So rather than stammer just give some really low price. They'll make a face and walk away maybe, but only when they give a price can you start to bargain.

4. Have fun with them. They've got their whole little world there with hierarchy and everything. Some guy asks if you need tix when you approach, and then he'll run you over to the big guy with the tix, like Wiley, and then if you make a sale they settle between themselves. I've enjoyed watching them argue about their commission and what not. They're trying to make a buck, and they'll flat out lie to you, but I doubt they have counterfeit tix there, so juts enjoy the bargaining and teasing involved.

They'll be puffing about white section and the Lakers, so you say, shit, it's the baseline and the Lakers suck this year. They'll brag how much they sold other tickets for, so tell them they're suckers and you know better. They'll say fine, go somewhere else, so you say, maybe I will (and don't be afraid to walk around to the other side of the RG where a different group of scalpers is), or maybe say, fine, are you going to eat those tickets now or later?

Don't be mean, be friendly and have fun with it. It can actually be entertaining. And they are decent guys for the most part. And if you are perfectly willing to leave and go watch from a bar, you'll probably get tickets most times, without overspending.

A lot of these guys get tickets from regular season ticket holders who can't be bothered to sell them themselves. I don't know what the arrangement is. I have had to wait while the ticket holder drove over with his extras.

I always asked for lower level. And I have gotten fantastic seats for cheap - but not always. If we keep up this run it might be hard to get weekend tic against an elite team, but you never know.

 

[SantaDora]

after I bought it, I noticed it was for Knicks/Vancouver!

... and people wonder why these Canadians went and signed Darius Miles! Even they were confused what team they represent!

 

[MickZagger]

I have, but stay away from Puck. He's the short, drunk scalper with a mullett. He's been known to rip off. Also, make sure you don't do it on RG property. If staff sees you they can void the tickets. Buy across the street.

 

[jlprk]

Later is lower (price). I arrived each time about the middle of 1st quarter (customs problems). With every fan having gone inside, the scalper offered tickets at about half the list price. Of course, doing this makes you miss some of the game.

As for counterfeit tickets in New York, it's probably not cost-effective to mint bad tickets here.

 

[soona]

I have, but stay away from Puck. He's the short, drunk scalper with a mullett. He's been known to rip off. Also, make sure you don't do it on RG property. If staff sees you they can void the tickets. Buy across the street.

You don't have to be across the street, but definitively outside a certain area. The scalpers know where the line is and there are security guys milling around, so it's pretty clear. The scalpers know not to cross the line.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

I have. I couldn't get tickets to the Blazers-Suns but I wanted to take my younger brother and his friends so we went down to the Rose Garden on a freezing night.

Turns out I didn't have enough money for 4 tickets lol. I only had $120 for $140 worth of tix.

But the dude was chill. He saw that my little brother and his friends wanted to see the game so gave me a discount and told me not to worry about it.

We got it and Brandon Roy scored 52 that night.


Otherwise, during the 08/09, I bought tickets for weak teams like the Grizz and Clipps for very low prices.

Just go to where all the scalpers are standing...it's likely legitimate if there's a bunch of them selling to groups of people.

 

[soona]

I've also gone by myself quite a few times. It's probably easier to get a deal on the odd single seat (although they'll be hesitant to break up pairs until after tip off). When I have, I've often ended up having a good time with the people around me, which in the lower bowl are usually season ticket holders who all know each other. Sometimes, in fact, I'd come into my seat and the guy next to me was the season ticket holder who had to give his extra to the scalper to sell. And the first thing the guy would ask is what I paid for the seat.

I met one season ticket holder like that - after buying his extra from the scalper. The guy ended up giving me his number so I could call him directly in case he had extras. I didn't love his seats though, so I never did again. They were under the basket though, the first row behind the black seats, and the servers would take orders from those seats even though they were technically only serving the black seats.

 

[tlongII]

I prefer Craigslist.

 

[crowTrobot]

Not the RG, but I got scammed twice in one night in NYC. I took to the streets to buy a ticket to Blazers/Knicks. I bought a ticket but it was counterfeit. Didn't have the water mark on it. So I lost that money. Then I went to another scalper who showed me the water mark and so I bought the ticket, but after I bought it, I noticed it was for Knicks/Vancouver! I then went to a this scalper and bought a real ticket. And I did go to Knicks/Vancouver later that season.

jeez since that would have had to be at least 10 years ago and you look like you're 24 now i was gonna say what were you doing on the street at that age. didn't realize you are 37.

 

[RipCityInsider]

If you don't mind missing the first couple of minutes, that is the cheapest way to buy them. Baseline 5 rows up for $50 a piece one time...

 

[KevinJBonn]

I've done it a few times and never had a problem other than feeling like I paid an extremely absurd amount. Sometimes they have deals and sometimes they will rip you off like crazy. I took one guy to the ATM with me in my car, that probably wasn't the smartest move but I was young and stupid. I really prefer to do the last minute deals on Stub-Hub and pick them up at the hotel on MLK. The chances of getting a deal or getting a rip off are the same but with a little more structure involved.

 

[soona]

Well, you can definitely get better deals from scalpers than from Craigslist and especially StubHub.

 

[jaspitzer]

Last year in LA we bought 4 tix off a scalper for the clippers. It was right at tip and he tried to get us to pay 60 a piece for lower level tix, we did the whole walk away thing and got them down to 20 a piece. When we got to our row we noticed only 3 of the tix were for this section and one of them was in the 300 level. So yeah be careful, they'll try to scam any chance they get. It still worked out fine for us, I thought it was pretty funny that he gave us one bad ticket

 

[jlprk]

From these stories it sounds like the only time anyone has been "ripped off" was when they didn't look at the seat numbers and ticket date. Even when they didn't look, they usually didn't get ripped off.

The "bad tickets" were all real tickets, except one time in New York for KingSpeed. I guess the Mafia has the money to own a printing press.

Edit: This board has been doing that double word at the end of the first line stuff for a week now.