Scalping Final Four Tickets Is No Slam Dunk

When I bought a ticket to the Final Four basketball title game to resell for profit, I thought I'd hit nothing but net. Instead, I shot the equivalent of a scalper's air ball.

I purchased a $90 face-value ticket from StubHub in early March for $112 -- $135 when you total in the service charge and FedEx mailing. I still thought it was a good deal for the crowning moment of one of America's biggest sporting events, the NCAA Tournament. I was wrong. This week I resold the ticket on StubHub for $88. After StubHub took its 15%, I was left with $74.80. That's a $60.20 loss. (Remember, I paid $135 originally.)

Scalping is a tough game, and I may not get a chance to compete anymore. I've been benched by my wife.

So much for my new and exciting side job. I had this crazy idea that from time to time I would buy sports tickets online at a relative bargain and increase the price in the "secondary market". That's fancy talk for any place you can scalp.

I should mention that I have written before about StubHub in this space as an observer, and I bought tickets from from the site to actually attend an event. This time was different. I was in it to score a profit.

I figured the Final Four was a sure thing. Immediately after I bought my ticket I saw asking prices for the cheapest seats listed rise to $169 in mid-March. I patted myself on the rump for my good play (like they do in basketball). I decided to wait for the week before Monday's game to list the ticket back on StubHub. Then the listings plummeted below $100. I checked eBay and saw the same descent. Still convinced interest would surge as the event got closer, I finally listed the ticket on StubHub for $143. I waited 24 hours for a bite. Nada.

I pondered waiting until after Saturday's semifinals, thinking any ticketless fans of the winners of the games between Virginia Commonwealth and Butler and Connecticut and Kentucky would pay top dollar for Monday's championship. (StubHub offered an option where you could mail the tickets to company officials in Houston, the site of the Final Four. Then you could list the tickets right up to game time.)

But I didn't have the guts. I rose from bed on Tuesday, March 29, at 3 a.m., slashed my ticket price to $88, and within three minutes I received an email that my ticket had sold. A Kentucky man bought it, I later discovered. Go, Wildcats.

So where did I go wrong? Well, I can figure out a few things:

   1. I bought a single ticket. Most folks like to go with someone.
   2. Houston's Reliant Stadium, a football venue posing as a basketball arena, will seat more than 72,000 for the Final Four. A huge capacity creates a ticket surplus that sinks prices.
   3. Semifinal tickets are actually more valuable because at least buyers know their team will be playing.
   4. I studied what sellers were asking for tickets instead of what buyers were actually paying.
   5. The service charges are too much to overcome.
   6. The Final Four is not the Super Bowl. Just getting into the game isn't enough for many.

www.999plaza.net also suggests that scalper, or "ticket broker," wannabes buy premium seats (if you can afford them) to resell at premium prices. Logical, no? It's the good seats that jack up in value for a big event while the nosebleeds like the one I bought tend to be more static.

But even the pros miss once in a while. Brokers who bought blocks of tickets for Charlie Sheen's shows said in the New York Daily News that they will lose money because the seats are either not selling at all or way below face value.

That makes me feel better but it won't get me back in the game. The next time I buy a ticket to a basketball game, I'll actually show up for the tip-off.

Phoenix Forum Announces Social, Networking Events

The Phoenix Forum announced its schedule of social events and networking opportunities today.

Kicking off the Forum will be its traditional annual charity golf tournament sponsored once again by X2K. Tee time is 12:30 p.m. on March 30. The tournament will benefit the Free Speech Coalition and feature a continental breakfast, full day of golf, lunch on the course, post-golf mixer and awards dinner.

Once the Forum begins, the Too Much Media and Nats 4.1 Hospitality Suite will be up and running in suites 2043 and 2045 for all three days of the event, while the JBM Hooters Happy Hour will provide attendees with an opportunity to relax on Thursday afternoon at an attendee-favorite locale.

The highly anticapted XBIZ speed networking event will once again bring attendees together in the Abbey at Tempe Mission Palms, and the always popular Phoenix Forum Welcome Reception will take place in the courtyard on Thursday evening.

Immediately following the Welcome Reception, Cybersocket will once again host its always well-received Webmaster Opening party at the Rula Bula Irish Pub next to the Tempe Mission Palms where traditional Irish food and drink will be served.

Rounding out the first full day of the Forum, the YNOT Grand Prix will help accelerate the networking to new levels at an off-site race track on Thursday night.

Also on Thursday, Video Secrets and OrbitalPay will present The Suite Life — Champagne and Shots, where all attendees are invited to stop by suite 2041 for premium champagne and shots all around. In addition, City Sex Cash Late Night Hospitality Suite and the Smashbucks Latenight Poker Lounge will keep things going into the early morning hours in suites 2040 and 2038.

Starting Friday at 11 a.m. IntenseCash is sponsoring 10-minute licensed massages and MeritCard is bringing in a body painter and opening up a cabana with a Dos Equis lager keg at noon.

At 1 p.m. the NakedSword Surf Shack presented by NakedSword, AEBN, Raging Stallion and Gunz Blazing is open for good times in suite 2047, sponsored by Cybersocket.

The JBM Happy Hour returns on Friday afternoon, and Maleflixxx’s Cock and Tail party gets going Friday evening. Next Door Buddy Profits Friday Night Heat keeps things going into the evening along with the return of City Sex Cash Late Night Hospitality Suite and the Smashbucks Latenight Poker Lounge. The Next Door Buddy Profits Recovery Breakfast will round out things early into the wee hours.

IntenseCash and the the MeritCard body painter and cabana are back again on Saturday with licensed massages as is the Surf Shack. A pirate dunk sponsored by Porn Guardian takes place Saturday afternoon.

Helping the 2011 Phoenix Forum draw to a close will be the Webmaster Dodgeball and Live Photo Shoot courtesy of Lightspeedcash.

Also closing the show is the Aloha Oe party sponsored by NakedSword, AEBN, Raging Stallion and GunzBlazing that begins at 8 p.m., and the Smashbucks Latenight Poker Lounge makes a final appearance.

For a complete listing of these and other events click here and select schedule.

The 2011 Phoenix Forum starts on March 31 and ends on April 2. Registration to attend the Phoenix Forum is $275 per person up until March 30. For those registering onsite, the fee will be $325 per person.

Copper-plated mergers

The latest copper kerfuffle is exposing the flaw in most deals marketed as mergers of equals. Lundin Mining Corp. and Inmet Mining Corp., two metals miners, wanted a quiet, no-premium marriage. Now a third, Equinox Minerals Ltd., has thrown in a $5-billion hostile bid for Lundin at a 26% premium.

The earlier proposed union offered little that can't be easily trumped.

The occasional airline or utility merger of equals just might add enough value to raise real hurdles for other buyers; so too might an unbeatable geographical or strategic fit. But otherwise it's a cop-out, even if two companies are similarly sized. In the mooted Inmet-Lundin tie-up, Inmet shareholders would take just over half the new company -but there's little, if anything, in the combination that sounds impressive enough to deter an alternative buyer.

Equinox answered the call and plans a hostile offer for Lundin, having been unable to get its hands on non-public information. The new suitor is touting a pure play on the red-hot copper market, whereas the rationale for the Inmet-Lundin deal involved diversification. That such different takes exist underlines the weakness of the original merger-ofequals argument.

Not that the Equinox offer for Lundin is a slam-dunk, either. The headline premium drops to only a little more than 10% against the price of its target's shares before its deal with Inmet -they have fallen since.

Equinox may struggle to go much higher, as it is loading up with debt to fund the half-cash, half-stock offer. And in a sector with several giants stomping around, another buyer could come in -for Lundin, or indeed for Inmet.

Inmet could even do the business itself by matching the price Equinox has offered, as it is entitled to do. That would show Inmet's belief in the strategic value of combining with Lundin. But of course it would also blow the questionable mergerof-equals spin out of the water.

Nike SB Dunk High Premium – Family Guy Quagmire: Hot Shoe on eBay

Can you recognize those yellow stars on the red upper of this Nike SB Dunk High Premium? If you are familiar with the animated tv series Family Guy, you really know what I’m talking about. Glenn Quagmire is a character in the said show and is described as "an appalling human being who is still caught in the rat-pack era" based on anachronistic 1950s party-animal clichés. His neighbor and friend, Peter Griffin describes him as a "heartless sex hound" and refers to him as "a rapist" in The Cleveland Show.

Quagmire appears to have dressed up in red short-sleeved shirt with yellow stars print, teal pants, and brown shoes. His most famous identity is his shirt and from there Nike has come up with an idea of implementing it on one of its shoes. The Nike SB Dunk High Premium received the wonderful combination of Quagmire’s attire – the shirt, pants, and shoes. Basically, Quagmire’s shirt inspired the shoe’s side panel while the rest of the upper uses his pants’ color, and the outsole – his shoes.

On eBay, seller thesoleprovider offers this Nike SB Dunk High Premium – Family Guy Quagmire for $179.99.