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Web sites offer Derby seats anywhere, but for a price(Courier-Journal)

3/7/2006

But if a buyer is willing to pay the price, he or she can sit just about anywhere, including in luxury suites being advertised for between $108,300 and $124,000.

TicketCity.com's Web site advertised more than 1,200 Derby tickets recently at prices between $150 and $4,000. And sellers on eBay were offering at least 79 Derby tickets.

Other Web sites offer hundreds of tickets, some of which appear to be duplicates. That doesn't include tickets sold through newspaper classified advertising and other methods.

Kenny Schonburg, a vice president with Champion Sports Tours in Jeffersonville, Ind., said large quantities of tickets are included in databases maintained by a few major brokers. Other brokers also can advertise and sell tickets from those databases.

"The brokers are the ones that kind of control the big-event market," Schonburg said.

Champion began to sell packages for the race last year.

Tickets can be bought from longtime Downs seat holders or even sponsors, according to Schonburg and ticket brokers' Web sites.

In the two weeks leading up to the Derby, brokers set up makeshift operations in the Louisville area, some staying at a hotel in Clarksville, Ind. , Schonburg said. Ticket scalping is legal in Indiana.

Schonburg added that he understands that the track is trying to be fair to individuals in its opposition to reselling.

But he can't see any way for the track to evenly enforce its policy, he said.

For example, a suite holder could market tickets through a broker and then say that the people are his guests if any questions are raised.

"I think it'd be very difficult to police that," Schonburg said.

With police already checking for people trying to sneak alcohol and other items into the track, Schonburg said it would be impossible to check whether a person was supposed to have a particular ticket.

"You'd have to start letting people in two days before," he said