Originally Posted by
blazindw
I know the girl that wrote this letter to the editor (she in fact sent it to me before she submitted it to the Chronicle). I think she has a great point. I was able to make it to both games, and the tickets I had for Thursday were bought from an Iron Duke. On Craigslist. Why an Iron Duke was selling his/her tickets on Craigslist when there are plenty of ways to ensure that those tickets get into the hands of Duke fans (like the Ticket Exchange board) is beyond me. Now, I was lucky to get my tickets for Thursday and Saturday for face value, and I was able to resell a lot of tickets to Duke fans for face value and take my parents and roommate on Saturday. However, I think the point is that Duke fans who aren't Iron Dukes that pay a bunch of money don't even get a chance to ask if tickets are available.
Not every Duke alum can afford the membership to the Iron Dukes, much less pay enough money to get to a point where they have great shots at tickets. They also can't use that money to purchase tickets from scalpers for 5-6 times face value off Craigslist, eBay or any of the other online ticket brokers. ironically, the people who could afford to pay top dollar for tickets were the ones that ended up getting them for face value through the lottery, but I digress. I was lucky to get tickets for face value. I was even luckier to be in the position where I had more tickets than I needed, and I sold those for face value to Duke fans. Others weren't so lucky, and that's the reason why people like her are upset (disclosure: she attended both games).
Also, for those who weren't outside before the games witnessing, there were tons of scalpers selling tickets. But, I counted about 10 people that were arrested either for scalping or for selling counterfeit tickets. I also saw about 4 people who were sold fake tickets and then were denied entry because the tickets were fake. I think it's a bit much to ask Duke alums who aren't Iron Dukes to have to subject themselves to shady dealings with scalpers on a regular basis just to see their team play. Just my $.02.