Scoring last-minute tickets to an Orioles or Ravens game would be as easy as a stroll downtown under a bill introduced in the City Council yesterday that would lift a prohibition against reselling tickets within a mile of the Camden Yards sports complex.
Supporters said they hope the measure would boost the Orioles' lagging attendance by making it easier for ticket holders to unload their extra tickets among the throngs of fans outside the park, rather than throwing them out and leaving seats empty.
"Lots of people have bought their tickets already ... and they can't use them. They can't get rid of them," said City Councilman James B. Kraft, lead sponsor of the legislation. "This is very fan-friendly and consumer-friendly."
The proposal only allows sales at or below the face value of tickets - keeping the scalping of tickets in the area illegal.
Opening up the streets around Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium to ticket vendors runs counter to recent trends in the so-called secondary ticket market, which has increasingly relied on the Internet rather than scalpers trolling sidewalks with handmade signs.
Nearly half of National Football League teams, including the Ravens, have agreements with online ticket companies.
Spokespeople with two of those companies, StubHub and TicketsNow, argued that consumers are increasingly wary of buying tickets on the street - for good reason.
"Who wants to buy from the guy in the trench coat?" said Sean Pate, with StubHub, which guarantees that tickets sold through its site are legitimate. "On the street, you're always open to a little more lack of security and a little more limitation on what you're actually shopping for."
The Orioles reported selling 2,153,139 tickets last year, 42 percent less than the record 3,711,132 for the team's 1997 winning season. Actual attendance is likely far lower - and that is the number Kraft hopes the bill will address. If reselling tickets was easier, he said, fewer would go unused.
The team has for years offered a "scalp free zone" on Camden Street where sellers can unload tickets with team representatives and city police nearby. Kraft said buyers are required to sign a log to enter that zone, which he said is prohibitive.
In the case of the Orioles, it is unclear what the demand is for tickets sold on the street, given that there usually are seats at the box office before the game. However, the box office doesn't reduce the price of tickets once the game begins.
