A Scalpless Society

I have some great childhood memories of going to Mets games with my Dad. It was such an uncomplicated outing; drive to Queens, park at Shea, and wait for a nice young man to walk up to your car and offer you tickets. Such service.

I think I was 15 when it finally occurred to me that some people bought tickets in places other than the parking lot.

Now it seems that ticket scalpers may soon go the way of Shea Stadium (which, if you didn't know, was bulldozed last year). Ticketmaster has decided that the best way to drive scalpers out of business is to take away the tickets. Their new "paperless tickets" can only be redeemed at the actual venue, and only after the credit card used to purchase them is swiped. Attendants armed with hand held scanners will be able to print a "seat locater" for the credit card holder.

Critics of the plan worry about bottlenecks at the venues that may result in personal safety issues.

Ticketmaster will roll the new system out at the upcoming Miley Cyrus tour. An interesting choice when you consider that many of the concert-goers will be too young to have a credit card of their own. This, worries SubHub's Sean Pate, will force parents to accompany their children to concerts.

Hmm ... even it's way uncool to a young concertgoer, is that really a bad thing from a safety standpoint?