Seattle-based CitySeats.com is an online marketplace to buy, sell and exchange tickets.
Seattle.internet.com caught up with CitySeats.com CEO Stephen Schramke to get the latest scoop on Super Bowl tickets and more…
seattle.internet.com: So this must be a crazy week for you guys at
CitySeats.com? Can you give us some interesting Super Bowl ticket tidbits?
Stephen Schramke: This week has been a wild ride. Our office hours begin at 5:00am thanks to
the two teams being on the East Coast. We have been getting thousands of emails and hundreds of phone calls a day. A week ago Monday “get in” tickets (pick up in Tampa…no guarantee where the seats will be… mostly like in the upper corners) were selling for $2,000 each. By Friday, the same tickets were selling for $1,350 each. Over the weekend the price jumped back up to $2,000 each and are selling today for $2,700 each.
seattle.internet.com: Do you believe that auctions are a good way to buy
tickets?
Stephen Schramke: Auctions are a OK way to buy tickets except that only one person wins and
bidders run the risk of wasting valuable time having to wait for the outcome
of one auction. Price and selection of secondary market premium tickets
fluctuates with every event. Sometimes the prices go up before an event and
sometimes they go down. In our experience it is impossible to predict with
consistent accuracy. If I really, really want to go to an event I want my
tickets in hand the sooner the better.
seattle.internet.com: What is the future of online ticketing (will we be
able, for example, to print our own tickets at home?)
Stephen Schramke: Online ticketing and print at home tickets are right around the corner. Both
the Mariners and Sonics started bar coding their tickets last year. The
ticket ushers don’t tear or even look at the tickets any longer. They scan
them with a bar code reader on their finger tip. Bar codes can be printed on a
variety of materials. Those same tickets can be copied with a standard
copier and they will pass the scanner as long as no else has gained entrance
with the same bar code. It is just a matter of time before consumers will be
able to email them. It will be months not years.
