Sky high Bedlam ticket prices but new law bumps out the bots
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Just days before Bedlam, a new law takes effect that makes it illegal for bots to resell tickets astronomically higher than they normally are.
Bedlam is set for Saturday when the University of Oklahoma will face off at Boone Picken Stadium with Oklahoma State University. Many viewers reached out to KFOR upset that tickets are being sold for seemingly impossible prices by the largest ticket companies.
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The price of a Bedlam ticket rises every day if not every hour on sites like Ticketmaster.
As of Wednesday morning, a ticket for Club Level 553 row 7 was sold on Ticketmaster for over $3,500, on Seat Geek that same spot was sold for $2,179, and on Vivid Seats it was sold for $3,105.
“To me, that sounds like it should be illegal,” said Abbie Carpenter.
Carpenter is a college student whose boyfriend attends Oklahoma State University. She said she moved to Stillwater in June and has been looking for what she said is a reasonable price but has had no luck.
“It’s scamming is what it is, black and white scamming,” said Carpenter.
She and others who reached out to KFOR argued that SB 650 doesn’t go far enough and should constrict companies who resell these tickets at astronomical prices.
“If you’re going to take them and you’re going to scalp them and then have these outrageous prices, it’s not fair and it’s not cool,” said Carpenter.
Sponsors of Senate Bill 650 meant for the law to remove the possibility of giant companies using automatic systems to quickly buy up a bunch of tickets and then sell them at a ridiculous price.
KFOR contacted one of the sponsors, Representative Thomas Marti, who argued that the market needs to be there but it isn’t fair that automated machines could be taking from it instead of adding to it.
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An issue with the bill is that it could take months or years to figure out that automated bots had been used. Representative Marti said that it would have to go through the Attorney General or the school/ticket sellers would have to investigate.
Carpenter said that she posted on Facebook hoping that someone would be able to sell her a reasonably priced ticket.
“It’s just a little defeating to see the tickets so expensive,” said Carpenter. “I go to college and I work more than 40 hours a week and that is not something I could ever afford to buy, a Bedlam ticket. I mean, it’s just not reachable.”
KFOR reached out to Ticketmaster and asked if they had used bots in the recent resale of Bedlam tickets, they stated:
“Ticketmaster has zero tolerance for bots and continues to invest considerable resources to prevent them from getting between the artist and the fan. We applaud legislation like this new bill in Oklahoma, and more importantly its enforcement, which can deter practices which cheat artists and fans.”
Ticketmaster Communications Department
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