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Purdue, StubHub link up to thwart scalpers

By Michael Pointer

Purdue is joining the ranks of the "If you can't beat them, join them" approach to ticket scalping.


The school's athletic department reached a three-year agreement with StubHub.com that allows the online ticket broker to become the official home for fans wanting to buy and sell previously purchased tickets to Purdue sports events.

Purdue is the first school in the Big Ten and seventh major NCAA Division I program to form an official partnership with StubHub, joining Air Force, Alabama, California, Oregon State, Stanford and USC. The Indianapolis Colts have a similar arrangement with StubHub.

The company will pay Purdue an annual rights fee upfront. School officials declined to specify a figure for the deal, which starts this fall.

"To be honest, it cleans up commerce that is going to occur anyway," Purdue associate athletic director Jay Cooperider said.

Purdue fans are not required to use StubHub for purchasing or re-selling tickets, but they will be encouraged to.

The school will provide the postal and e-mail addresses for its season-ticket holders to StubHub. Fans who use the service will have the option of donating any profit back to the athletic department.

Cooperider said Purdue officials hope the move decreases the number of scalpers on campus during major events. StubHub also guarantees the authenticity of every ticket re-sold.

"It ensures buyers and sellers are going to get what they promise," he said.

Cooperider said Purdue looked into providing its own resale service, but determined it was too costly and time-consuming.

StubHub will be allowed to call itself Purdue's "official secondary ticketing provider," and the company's advertisements will appear on the athletic department's Web site and inside Mackey Arena.

StubHub spokesman Sean Pate said Purdue is attractive to the company because of its football attendance. The Boilermakers averaged 62,996 fans for six home games at 62,500-seat Ross-Ade Stadium.

Close proximity to large media markets in Chicago and Indianapolis also is a factor, he said.

"We're not trying to coax people into not buying from Purdue," Pate said. "But if they want 50-yard line seats for a game that's been sold out for months, we want to make that available."

San Francisco-based StubHub is privately owned, but published reports estimate 2006 revenue at more than $50 million. Original investors included Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.

USC associate athletic director Jose Eskenazi said the school's partnership with StubHub -- which is entering its third season -- has been good.

"We haven't had any complaints from fans we've sent there and they've delivered everything they said they would," he said.

Big Ten-rival Wisconsin looked into forming a relationship with StubHub, but instead set up its own system in which fans must donate at least $50 to its athletic department to participate.

"That was important to us," said Corbin Hunt, Wisconsin's assistant athletic director in charge of ticket sales. "Not to make it an open free market, but a benefit to our donors."