How Much is Too Much?

If you’ve ever bought tickets to a big name rock concert, chances are you’ve dealt with Ticketmaster, or their subsidiary service for reselling tickets, which goes by the name of Tickets Now. Both companies have been in the spotlight recently, as an investigation into potentially illegal practices and price gouging have surfaced. Although the K-Rock Centre relies on Tickets.com to manage their sales, that hasn’t stopped scalpers from reselling Tragically Hip, Leonard Cohen and Willie Nelson tickets on Tickets Now, and e-Bay. For instance, admission to the Leonard Cohen’s concert via Tickets.com ranges from $53 to $250, whereas the spread at Tickets Now is $129 to $1,242. Similarly, a pair of Cohen tickets are going for $1,400 on e-Bay. The same pattern exists for the Willie Nelson show, which will cost you $57 through Tickets.com, and from $231 to $557 on Tickets Now. This begs the question, how much are you willing to pay to see these big acts when they come to the Limestone City? Are you willing to buy from a reseller, or scalper at an inflated price that’s three, four or five times the original price? Is the small capacity of the K-Rock Centre partially to blame? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to drive to Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa to take in the same show for less?