Can Trib give broker coveted Cubs tickets to sell?

April 20, 2003

BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH Staff Reporter

In the early 20th century, theater performances weren't confined to the stage. They extended into the box office, too.

Patrons often were told the best seats were "sold out," when in fact they had been funneled to an "independent" broker who was secretly in cahoots with theater managers to mark up prices and split proceeds.

The Illinois Supreme Court got involved after the Cort Theater sued Mayor William H. "Big Bill" Thompson to override the City of Chicago's anti-scalping ordinance. Referring to "the unquestioned evils of the existing system," justices sided against the theater.

Eighty-five years later--and after numerous changes to scalping statutes--a similar case is wending through Cook County Circuit Court.

A lawsuit takes aim not at a theater group, but the Chicago Cubs, whose owner, the Tribune Co., set up an off-site business last year selling Cubs tickets beyond face value. Tickets that might be "sold out" at the Cubs box office are aplenty at the Clark Street broker, Wrigley Field Premium Ticket Services, sometimes at hundreds of dollars over posted prices.

Critics charge the operation is not only unfair to fans, it's illegal because, among other reasons, there's no practical distinction between the broker and the Cubs. The team "engaged in an elaborate corporate shell game to disguise its activities because it understood it was unlawful for it to sell or permit the sale of Cubs Tickets at prices in excess of the Lawful Price," according to court documents.

Not true, says the Cubs' side, arguing the broker is a separate but affiliated corporation from the Cubs and provides a real service to fans wanting to see baseball games where seats, or good ones, are hard to come by.

While the operation may not pass the smell test, experts said it's not clear it's breaking state law, which has been amended several times since it was created in 1923.

"On its face--without an explanation from the Cubs--it looks like it might be a technical violation," opined Stephen Ross, a sports law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But, he called the law so "highly detailed" that it's not certain how a judge might interpret things, and he suspects this case ultimately will end up before the state Supreme Court.

The offices of the Illinois attorney general and Cook County state's attorney were unable or unwilling to offer insight into the current law.

This much, however, is clear. State statute prohibits professional sports teams, and other places of "amusement" such as live theaters, from directly selling tickets beyond face value. Licensed brokers are allowed to do so. The law doesn't explicitly prohibit a baseball team from partnering with a broker.

Paul Bauch, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, believes the law prevents the Cubs from knowingly providing tickets for scalping. What's more, he said, brokers must "resell" tickets, meaning they first have to be "sold" tickets in order to resell them. Since Wrigley Field Premium and the Cubs are effectively the same entity, Bauch argued, there's no real sale.

In the end, he said, the situation is deceptive: the Cubs draw in fans at lower prices, then tell them the good seats are sold and direct them to their broker.

James Klenk, an attorney on the Cubs' end, said the case isn't complicated: "It's legal to be a ticket broker, we have a license to be a ticket broker, and we're not hiding that from anyone. So what is the sham?"

Wrigley Field Premium is a separate arm of Tribune, "just like WGN or CLTV," Klenk added, claiming one of the people to file suit has worked for a rival ticket broker, so his motives are suspect.

Allen Sanderson, a sports economist at the University of Chicago, couldn't speak to the legality of the broker arrangement, but offered a motive: "When you can sell out with a mediocre ballclub, the tendency is to say, can we squeeze more out of this?"

He's a White Sox season ticket holder.

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