Shrewd students are padding their pockets this week as they capitalize on the free concert coming to Mac at the end of the month.
The TD Pump It Up event has, through the combined effort of student votes, resulted in Diplo, Classified and Keys N Krates playing a free show at the Hamilton Convention Centre this Saturday exclusively for Mac students.
Students waited in line on Nov. 20 for their tickets, which they were eligible for if they voted in the promotion, with preference given to TD members, and some students are turning around and making a tidy profit on their opportunity.
“Selling one ticket with VIP. Message me with offers. Ticket goes to highest bidder,” posted one Mac student on the promotion’s offical Facebook page.
It was just one among many similar postings, as the page’s comments were riddled with more than a hundred such offers, with prices ranging from as low as $25 to heights of $90—which would be all profit.
“By the provincial law, you are technically not allowed to sell a ticket above its price. On the ticket it says zero dollars, so anybody selling a ticket at any price over a dollar or a cent is technically illegal,” said Al Legault, director of campus events.
Ticketholders will be required to present their Mac ID card to gain entry into the event, so ticket scalping will be limited to other McMaster students, but that has not stopped the less than scrupulous entrepreneurial spirit of the student body.
“I think you’re always going to have a black market with tickets. If it’s a ten-dollar event, or a Rolling Stones concert, people are always going to find a way to make money off of it, because of the need. The second that someone needs a ticket, they’re going to want to pay for it,” said Legault.
The sales were not limited to the events page, as likewise offers were being billed on classifieds websites such as Kijiji, where the sellers were not explaining that non-Mac students would be barred from entered the event, creating the possibility of Hamilton citizens being duped of their time and money.
Despite this, the MSU is committed to stem this practice wherever they can. “[The MSU] has been on our social networks. People posting it in ours, we’d remove it right away, so you can’t be selling that. It’s a free event for students,” said Legault.
The act of ticket scalping does not end at Mac, as the universities of Acadia and Moncton, the two other winners of the TD promotion, had comparable amounts of ticket offers on their official event pages.
The line for a free Steve Aoki, Dragonette and Young Empires concert started on the third floor of the student centre Wednesday morning. It stretched down the hall, down the stairs, across the entire second floor and into the stairwell leading to the first. Ticket distribution began at noon, with the pickup location of MUSC 319 announced only 45 minutes in advance. McMaster found out on Oct. 4 that it had won the show in the TD Pump It Up Contest, beating out Queen's University in the heavyweight division. There are about 3000 tickets available for the Nov. 22 event, which will be held in the Wentworth Room of the Hamilton Convention Centre.
