A quick profit off the (Carolina) Hurricanes (NC AG accuses six firms of scalping tickets )

RALEIGH - A Wake County judge stopped six companies Wednesday from selling high-priced tickets to the Stanley Cup finals at the Entertainment and Sports Arena after state Attorney General Roy Cooper filed a suit accusing them of ticket scalping.

Wake Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens issued a temporary restraining order against the companies, citing "sufficient evidence to believe that the defendants are engaged in unfair and deceptive commercial practices."

Stephens said consumers would continue to suffer losses unless he stopped the companies from advertising or selling tickets in violation of state law.

North Carolina law prohibits the resale of tickets at prices higher than $3 above face value, unless a reasonable service fee is negotiated with the event's venue.

Cooper said he also is asking the companies to reimburse consumers and to sell tickets back to the Carolina Hurricanes. If they refuse, a judge would decide whether to order the companies to comply.

"This lawsuit is trying to stop corporate scalpers who bought hundreds of tickets to resell at a large markup," Cooper said.

Last week, more than 1,000 fans lined up for hours to buy tickets to the three games scheduled at the ESA. About 50 of the people in line got tickets; the rest of the 27,000 tickets sold were snapped up on the Internet.

Hurricanes President Jim Cain said some of the Internet buyers were working for the ticket resellers. "We were shocked at how quickly the tickets sold," he said.

Cain said one company hired 20 people from a temporary agency to stand in the arena and 20 others to buy tickets on the Internet.

"They were there at 7:59 Wednesday morning with their fingers on the buttons," he said.

About 1,500 tickets could be returned, Cain said, but they will be reserved for people who make deposits on 2002-03 season tickets, which start at $720 for 24 games.

"We are trying to keep these tickets from scalpers, the people who don't want to make an investment in this team," he said.

The companies named in the suit are Encore Tickets and Tours of Dallas; Premiere Tickets and Tours of Cary; Ticket Solutions of Overland Park, Kan.; Empire Entertainment and Travel of Atlanta; Ideal Ticket Agency of Cleveland; and Padgett Business Services of Johnson County, Kan., doing business as First Class Tickets in Prairie Village, Kan.

The companies offered tickets as part of packages that included such extras as pregame parties and transportation, according to affidavits filed by the Attorney General's Office. In at least some cases, Cooper said, the packages were overpriced in an attempt to get around the scalping law.

The companies advertised the ticket packages in the classified sections of newspapers, including The News & Observer, or on the Internet.

"We don't have a problem with reasonably priced packages, but we do have a problem with those that are shams," Cooper said.

One company, Premiere Tickets & Tours in Cary, was exempted from the judge's order as long as it sells packages that do not exceed the price of a ticket by more than $150. Premiere Tickets had been offering packages for $300 to $800, including a pregame party at Southend Brewery and transportation to and from the arena.

Kevin Bunn of Cary, an attorney for Premiere, said that his client does everything to operate within the law but that the statute is not clear.

"The suit shows we need more guidance," Bunn said. "Right now we are having to guess."

A ticket salesman for Empire Entertainment and Travel said his company is no longer selling tickets in the state.

"We are still going through it with the lawyers now, but we are not selling anything in North Carolina," said Ian Cannell, the ticket sales representative. "It really surprises us because we've never had something like this happen."

Officials of the other companies named in the suit either could not be reached or refused to comment.

Cooper said out-of-state companies such as Empire must comply with state law when selling tickets to events in North Carolina. Some states allow companies to resell tickets for prices far above face value.

The investigation began after Hurricanes officials noticed that minutes after ticket sales ended, Internet sites popped up offering ticket packages at inflated prices, some for as much as $1,845.

Willoughby said he has been working with the Hurricanes management and the Raleigh Police Department to identify scalpers who buy tickets in bulk.

"I expect we will still have to prosecute a few of the truly greedy," Willoughby said. "We're trying to stop a few slick operators from ripping off the fans."

Officers in Durham are also on the lookout for scalpers. Detectives from the Durham County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday arrested a man they said sold them two tickets for $875 when the face value was $110. The detectives had posted a message on a Yahoo.com site asking for tickets.

Carl Frederick Vallone, 41, of 1260 Leonard Road, Louisburg, was charged with the misdemeanor of selling tickets in excess of price.

It's fascinating how politicians love to hate ticket resellers.

This is a victimless "crime" which facilitates the widest distribution of a scarce item.

Does anyone here think this is bad?

Right. Big value-add : some hotwings from a local sportsbar and 'transportation' to the game. The ESA is on the friggin' Interstate; you can hit it with a rock from the slow lane. They're expemt because they're good-ole-boyz while the other firms are out of town.

Oh well. At least there's one less crime here in the nations fourth safest city (Cary).

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