The Room Where It Happened

I went to the Federal Trade Commission’s ticket workshop in Washington D.C. today so you wouldn’t have to. Afterwards, I took a long walk back through the National Mall to clear my head.

Here’s what you should know:

When the FTC puts out the call, everyone responds. We had representatives from the primary and secondary ticket markets, Google, academics, attorneys and various consumer advocates. Over the course of the day there were three talks by FTC people, four separate panel discussions plus one keynote from a professor at the University of Chicago.

Here’s what I wish they talked about:

1. In a capitalist society, supply and demand issues are cured by price. The current mix of primary and secondary ticket markets allow you access to anything you can afford. They also provide you a chance for a deep discount when prices crash as they do often — maybe half the time.

2. A political system in which pricing and/or distribution is controlled by the government is known as Socialism.

3. You don’t have a constitutional right to attend a concert, play or game just because you love the act, team or sport.

4. If you’ve never been to a football game, you don’t get to go to the Super Bowl unless you can pay the market price. Allocated tickets go to those…