To support their teams and display school spirit, fans patiently wait in long lines to get tickets—with Lasallian students recently even going as far as lining up in the early morning, hours before the indicated ticket selling period.
However, there are still people out there who are willing to take advantage of the limited supply and demand for commodities to make a quick buck.
Ticket scalping, the act of reselling event tickets at inflated prices, has long been a controversial topic among Lasallians with the Student Discipline Formation Office even reminding the student body that “scalping and unjust enrichment are contrary to the values and principles we espouse at the University” and that such portrayal of this act is considered a violation of the Student Handbook.
This particular issue affects the student bodies of UAAP who want to watch their university’s representatives but often find themselves facing unreasonable prices when trying to attend these sports events—particularly matches involving DLSU teams and their rivals or crucial do-or-die games.
No choice but to
With the problem of high demand coupled with limited availability for tickets, it makes it difficult for students to secure tickets at face value. As a result, they often turn to the secondary market, where resellers exploit the situation.
Spring* (II, AB-OSDM) shared to The LaSallian that they had no choice but to buy Upper Box tickets at a staggering price of P8,000 during the UAAP Season 85 Men’s Basketball Finals. Another interviewee said that one scalper offered them P5,000 for a Row 1 ticket for a La Salle-Ateneo basketball game while another scalper was selling it for P2,000.
When asked why they opted to buy tickets at an exorbitant price, Spring further shared that it’s worth the money if they really want to watch the game. “It is the experience that you actually pay for—not only in the UAAP but in any event,” they claimed.
High stakes, high reward
The desire and itch of being glued into the arena is one thing, but the anxiousness of interacting with a random individual is another immense challenge. Dealing with a stranger to exchange thousands of pesos is no joke, so the trust and confidence factor are truly vital. A couple of individuals mentioned that there is a Facebook group that distributes a plethora of UAAP tickets that are legitimate. Winter*, a fourth year BS-MGT student from DLSU explains, “I joined [a] group UAAP Tickets on Facebook and lots of people are selling Row 1 to 5 tickets there.”
Imagine if your school or university captures the crown and you are ringside to capture the moment! Despite not being able to see their school compete for the chip, a UST student Summer* did not want to miss out on the moment and admits, “I bought a General Admission ticket for P1000 [for Game 3 of the UAAP 85 Men’s Basketball Finals], and I bought the ticket because it was the last game.
The intense rivalry and the raucous audience will always be a staple in UAAP crowds, whether the seats were purchased from the schools or through scalpers. As an interviewee elaborates, “The rivalry of the UAAP schools and the joy in supporting your school contribute to the high demand [of tickets.]” Furthermore, Winter confesses that she acquired tickets for Games 1 and 2 of the recently-concluded UAAP Women’s Volleyball for four times its original price. Despite the escalated fee, she acknowledges it is worth every single centavo because she was there to see the DLSU Lady Spikers bring the crown back to Taft.
Room for improvement
With the prevalence of scalping as a last resort, one can argue that there is a need to reconstruct the system of allocating and buying tickets. Typically, universities sell tickets a few days prior to the game, before any leftovers are passed to ticket outlets who sell them closer to the playdate, causing physical traffic onsite and virtually on their respective websites, especially before highly anticipated games. It would be in the best interest of consumers now who would want to see improvements in the ticketing system as it becomes impossible to acquire seats at their suggested retail price.
Winter feels that there should be a change in how students are buying tickets, “It is impossible to buy online and when you do try to buy online, there usually is no available tickets anymore.” On the other hand, Spring emphasizes that students and alumni should be prioritized first during ticket selling as it will give the athletes the opportunity “to be surrounded foremost by their very own community.”
There is collective agreement that action needs to be taken internally to guarantee that no tickets will be sold to scalpers to avoid paying more for collegiate sporting events. While ticket sellers are cracking down on these resellers, there is still much to be done before the system that preys on students is eradicated from the culture of Philippine sports.
*Names with asterisks (*) are pseudonyms.
