The fact that a site like Stubhub has gained so much popularity and has continued to thrive is testament to the fact that its existence helps to equalize the economic forces and sustain the secondary ticket sales market. These facts alone do not justify the existence of sites like Stubhub, but they show a demand for a secondary market, at least in tickets sales for these types of sporting events.
In response to the article and its main points, I completely agree with author Isadore. I firmly believe that since the primary market for tickets is often unfairly or inadequately regulated by factors such as specific access and timing purchases, that a secondary market would lead to far better access and ticket valuation than currently exists within the primary market itself. The basic economic premises behind supply and demand have been altered, or unfairly modified by limiting ticket sales to a primary market. As evidenced by Isadore in his article, often the demand for tickets to specific, or even hypothetical games like a Cubs vs. Red Sox World Series event, far outweighs the supply, and where market equalization is concerned, websites like Stubhub help to serve the fans as well as the ticket holders looking to offload their tickets.
Working with the assumption that certain people deserve first access rights to tickets while others, often willing to pay multiples of the face value are left out of the access pool, it is easy to see how some fans could become angry that websites like Stubhub exist. Not too many people can pay $6,000 for a World Series ticket, let alone $75,000. But when the market demands are equalized, outside of the rules, regulations, and moral considerations of the primary market, which have existed as long as there have been tickets to sell upon an ever-growing wave of demand, the ticket prices...
Certainly not every ticket price has been pumped up by Stubhub, and just as airline tickets are offered in different configurations like first class, business class, and coach, the secondary market for sporting events tickets allows for the market to help differentiate itself in a similar manner. When willingness to pay outweighs the supply of tickets, it is only logical that the price be driven up as a factor of economic principles alone.
As Isadore aptly points out, websites like Stubhub are good for ticket sales and fan bases as they search for tickets to their favorite games is because as the secondary market is allowed to stabilize and regulate itself through supply and demand, ticket prices are able to find their own equalized price (Isadore 3). Without a free secondary ticket market, both pricing and availability would be artificially dictated by those who are selling tickets in the primary market, as they are not affected by supply and demand at the same level that the secondary market is. In this way, even the sports teams benefit because they can be assured that at most levels, when the demand is great enough, that every seat in their ball field will be sold out, if only to be later sold on the secondary market for a profit, at least these profiteers are motivated initially to buy p every seat to help turn that profit. Whether or not this concept is seen as "fair" in the eyes of many fans is not important. The basic economic forces that are at work in a free market should be allowed to work in the ticket sales market, even if fans and sports fanatics are not initially comfortable with or used to this concept.
Works Cited
Isadore, Chris. "Why $75,000 playoff tickets are a good…
