THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
BASKETBALL
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 81
Low student attendance had frustrated many fans and even warranted a few words from coach Bill Self on multiple occasions. Despite the lack of attendance in the non-conference season, associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said that reducing the size of the student section had not been discussed.
Seat fill as Hawks blow by Cyclones
FULL STORY PAGE 8B
Woes about low students attendance at Kansas men's basketball games look to be over as conference season gets into full swing. Empty spots in the student section were filled in at last night's game against Iowa State and Jan. 14 against Oklahoma.
HEALTH
Concerns increase over radon
Radon, a cancer-causing gas, is likely present in high concentrations in a quarter of Lawrence homes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But the problem has gone largely unrecognized despite the potential danger of radon exposure.
FULL STORY PAGE 8A
LAWRENCE HOOKAH BUSINESSES REMAIN INTACT DESPITE NEW LAW
The Lawrence police department has decided how they will enforce the new law concerning drug paraphernalia. Authorities will allow Hookah businesses to provide Hookah but not sell them.
FULL STORY ON PAGE 3A
A resale rift
index
Classifieds. ... 7A
Crossword. ... 4A
Horoscopes. ... 4A
Opinion. ... 5A
Sports. ... 1B
Sudoku. ... 4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise,
© 2007 The University Daily Kansan
Both sides of the scalp
Critics say Athletics Department's auction contradicts anti-scalping policy
BY THOR NYSTROM
tnystrom@kansan.com
It is half an hour to tip-off, and Walter Scott works the busy sidewalks outside Allen Fieldhouse. Scott wears a jacket to keep warm as he repeatedly asks the crowd, "Got tickets? Need tickets?" It's a cold night to be working outside, but this is crunch time for a scalper. Scott has to unload the tickets he has acquired for this evening's basketball game between highly ranked Kansas and small college opponent Washburn or be forced to eat their costs.
Still, Scott stops to chat with State Rep. Barbara Ballard, associate director of KU's Dole Institute of Politics and one of many influential acquaintances he has made during 32 years of "independent ticket broking," as he calls it. Their conversation is interrupted when two KU police officers approach, one saying "We have you on camera selling tickets." Scott is written a citation and given a court date.
Scalping is perfectly legal in Kansas, but the University has cracked down on ticket reselling on campus as part of a continuing effort by Athletics Director Lew Perkins to eliminate the practice. Scott was the first scalper prosecuted through the use of a generic Kansas trespassing statute combined with a University rule against commercial solicitation on campus. KU police claim scalpers become trespassers if asked to leave and don't. However, a Lawrence defense attorney said it was questionable whether a criminal trespass statute could
be invoked against a citizen engaged in lawful activity on a public side-walk at a state university.
Scott, who has pleaded not guilty and faces an April 24 court date, said, "I'm no criminal, man. I sell tickets. This is modern-day greed. I haven't done anything wrong."
Commercial ticket resellers and individual scalpers like Scott say they are bit players in a capitalistic ticket market and that the Athletics Department itself raises vast sums beyond ticket prices by requiring donations from fans to even become eligible to purchase season tickets. A seat-selection process installed by Perkins assigns priority based on the amount of those donations, driving up the true cost of tickets. If the verb "scalp" means "to sell tickets at higher than the official rates," (the definition from The Unabridged Edition of The Random House
Dictionary), ticket resellers say that Perkins does it best and that he simply wants to eliminate his competition.
Athletics Department officials insist they have to maximize revenue from ticket sales to compete in today's escalating college sports arms race. And because they are staging the events, they claim the sole right to sell tickets. Individual ticket scalpers counter that capitalism is all about competition and anyone who has tickets is legally entitled to sell them for what the market will bear.
They point out that Perkins, himself a beneficiary of ticket-based fundraising, credited that same capitalistic market when a lawsuit forced the Athletics Department to release the generous terms of his employment contract two years ago.
At that time, Perkins, who earns $545,000 a year with a $1.3 million retention bonus, said, "One thing that is great about living in America, we live in a capitalistic society and people have the right to make money. I am proud of that."
The contract also provides Perkins, who declined to be interviewed for this story, with four basketball season tickets and even traveling expenses for his wife to road games. In the auction system that Perkins implemented, four prime tickets would require at least a five-figure donation.
In contrast, Scott seldom makes more than $10 to $20 selling one ticket. He said ticket brokering helped him "pay the bill."
while bouncing between part-time jobs.
"The rich get richer; the poor get poorer, Scott said. "I've never seen such greed."
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
The controversial program, started in 2004, removed many longtime season ticket holders from seats near the floor. After years of seating the building based on longevity, Perkins opened seating priority to an auction-style process in which the actual price of the ticket could soar well over the face value. The draft's order is based on points accrued in the Williams Fund— earned primarily by donations.
A steady progression of Kansas basketball season ticket holders descended on Allen Fieldhouse in August to select the location of their seats for the upcoming season. Not a single scalper appealed them - at least outside the arena. During the Select-a-Seat draft, the only people raiding cash above the face value of tickets were Athletics Department officials.
Joseph Sicilian, chairman of the department of economics, sees similarities between requiring Williams Fund donations and scabbing.
"It is the same. The Williams Fund is trying to get the most it can for those seats, and the scalper is trying to get the most for his ticket. But the scalper is in a less strong position because he has to compete with other people who are selling tickets," Sicillian said. "He at least subject to some competitive pressure, where the Athletics Department is the only people that can supply those seats."
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony disagrees with that comparison.
"How are we getting more than face value?" Marchionny said. "Are you required to give donations to buy tickets in Allen Fieldhouse? They aren't required to do it, so why is it scalping?"
Mick Allen, grandson of Kansas coaching legend and Fieldhouse namesake Phog Allen, had to give up seats that had been in his family for 45 years when the point system was implemented. Keeping his prime seats would have required a donation of $10,000 or more. He said the comparison between scaling and requiring Williams Fund donations is a "fair
A minimum donation of $100 to the Williams Fund is required to be eligible for basketball season tickets, and prime seat locations can require donations that reach six figures. The highest level is reserved for those who have donated $50,000 or more.
analogy."
"It is total leverage," Allen said. "As long as they keepwinning, will continue."
In addition to cracking down on scalpers on campus, the Athletics Department has made it difficult for KU students, faculty and staff to sell their tickets by replacing paper tickets for each game with an electronic ticket card. Ticket revocation is promised for those who resell them. Marchiony said the policy is enforceable because those groups get tickets at a discounted price.
POLICING SCALPERS
"They do what they want with them, and we kind of keep an eye on them, but there isn't a heck of a lot that we do or can do if they decide to put their tickets on eBay." Marchiony said. He admits they regularly go on ticket resale sites to see which season ticket holders are selling their seats.
.
Marchiony said the Athletics Department would revoke season tickets only from those Williams Fund donors who purchased tickets solely for resale. He said there had been instances in the past of ticket revocation, but he declined to elaborate.
Although the Athletics Department is opposed to individuals reselling tickets for more than face value, they ask that unused tickets be returned to a resale program for other Williams Fund members. Those tickets are then resold for 115 percent of face value, with the original face value returning to the ticket holder and 15 percent going to the Athletics Department. Marchiony said the 15 percent covered credit card charges and other costs of the system.
David Burress, a retired associate scientist in the University's Policy Research Institute, said that by creating the point system for the Williams Fund, the University had maximized the price they could get for the tickets.
"That creates a problem because if you paid a lot of money for that seat, you want to get a lot back, not just the face value," Burress said. "They have a fancy auction based on a willingness to pay, so if somebody buys a ticket and has paid the maximum they can pay for it, and then they are asked to give it back to the University for the lowest amount, that is going to engender bad feelings. They are exploiting. They are double dipping."
Marchiony doesn't think asking fans to return unused tickets for face value is unfair.
"Sure it's fair," Marchiony said. "It's fair to give them a choice of whether they want to do it or not."
"We would look up and see who those tickets belonged to, and we would contact that person and say 'You better not do that.' We didn't have legal背信, but they are a revocable license?' Frederick said of the tickets.
The concern about ticket scalping is hardly a new phenomenon. Before the Internet, then Athletics Director Bob Frederick said he would send people to monitor ticket reselling businesses by noting the locations of tickets.
During Perkins' tenure, the University began cracking down on scalping two years ago by threatening to use the state's criminal trespassing law and a University policy on commercial solicitation. The law says it is illegal to remain on any land by "a person who knows such person is not authorized or privi-
How tax breaks attract donations
The lure of
season tickets and prime seats to see the high-flying, second-ranked Jayhawks are not the only incentives for basketball fans to hand over cash donations far exceeding the face value of tickets to the Williams Fund, the financial engine of KU Athletics. Uncle Sam helps by letting donors deduct 80 percent of the donations from their taxable income.
The tax break was first instituted in 1986 when U.S. Rep. Jake Pickle, a University of Texas alumnus and member of the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote an amendment to the IRS tax code that said contributions tied directly to ticket sales wouldn't get a tax break but pre-ticket "contributions" were 100 percent tax-deductible—but only for contributors to UT and Louisiana State University. U.S. Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana was also a sponsor. In 1988, Congress lowered the write-off to 80 percent of donations but expanded it to all universities.
IRS officials have since questioned why donations to athletics departments should be tax deductible when basketball arenas, tickets and luxury suites are not a part of the institution's educational mission. Max Utlser, associate professor of journalism, who teaches the class Sports Media and Society, called the relationship between college athletics and their universities "a complete disconnect."
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
asked the Congressional Budget Office to
The KU Athletics Department, with a budget of $47.5 million in 2006, would suffer a steep decline in donations along with every other school if the amendment were ever repealed, according to Utsler.
investigate the tax breaks last year.
Without such tax breaks, professional sports teams charge more for premium seats or sell personal seat licenses. With the tax breaks, colleges utilize foundations such as the Williams Fund to solicit donations that are rewarded with prime seats, yet the face value of tickets remains far less than anyone actually pays to get them.
"I think anyone in the endowment business would tell you that the moment the tax breaks for that donation went away, the money would go away, too," Utsler said.