What would you pay to see Barack Obama take the oath of office as the nation’s 44th president? If you went online earlier this week, you may have seen ads touting tickets for $1,000, $3,000, even $18,000.
The networks had barely declared the Illinois senator winner of this epic presidential contest, when ticket offers for the Jan. 20, swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol (along with those for the Inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue) started popping up on eBay, StubHub, Great Seats, Empire Tickets, and other Web sites. Standing room tickets started at around $1,000 and skyrocketed to more than $20,000 for VIP seats.
However, the tickets — which won’t even be distributed until January — are supposed to be free. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, warned that she might float a bill making scalping of inaugural tickets a crime. By earlier today, the offers had vanished from most of the reseller sites, and eBay (which also owns StubHub and classified site Kijiji) announced it had banned the sale of such tickets. Determined scalpers, however, are still peddling their wares on sites like Craigslist, where one seller was offering a “guaranteed” ticket for $800 this afternoon. …
Earlier this week, when the tickets were still being touted widely, I found plenty of entrepreneurs looking to cash in. My favorite was this offer on eBay from a seller in South Bend, Ind., offering a single VIP seat for the swearing-in ceremony for $15,000. Accompanying the pitch was this rather bloated commentary:
“I have guaranteed access to four (seats) and there are two left. These tickets will come from a source in Congress that will not be able to attend…Do not ask me where they are coming from because I will not answer that. …If you are leery about the purchase, then don’t waste my time. This ticket will be gone by the time you get done thinking about it…”
Again, tickets for the event are free, even if they might be hard to come by. Each Senator and Representative gets an allotment, and they’re supposed to be distributed by Senators and Representatives to constituents who request them, first-come, first-served. All told, there are an estimated 240,000 tickets to go around.
But they won’t even be available until a week before the ceremonies, which are more than two months away, and you’ll have to pick them up in person.
If you’d like to attend the ceremonies on the up and up, contact you elected federal officials immediately. To better your chances, contact your Representative and your two Senators. Also, sign up for official e-mail alerts and updates about the ceremonies. And if you come across any of the remaining pitches from scalpers, save your money. Or if you must spend it, get yourself a big TV, invite some friends over and get the best seat in the house. Guaranteed.
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