The Badger Herald has named the names of the worst people on the University of Wisconsin. Seems that these people had the audacity to engage in arbitrage of Wisconsin Badger bowl tickets.
The above students had the nerve to put their Rose Bowl tickets up for sale on Facebook Marketplace within two hours of tickets selling out. Face value was $150. Some were trying to get the tickets for more than $400 a pop.
Truly, there is a special place in Hell for people who buy Rose Bowl tickets with the sole intention of profiting from them. It is entirely unfair to those who actually love this football team and were counting on a cheap face value ticket in order to make the trip to Pasadena an economic reality.
Who was this brave person who outed the dastardly students? Well it was none other than someone named Staff, so I shall call this genderless, anonymous person Herald Staff.
I have to wonder about someone who finds it so distasteful when someone engages in voluntary trade for gain. I'm sure Herald Staff has never, ever made any exchange in which Herald knowingly came out ahead. Herald never paid $2 for a burger that Herald valued at more than $2. Herald never took pay for a job when Herald was willing to work for less. That would make Herald a bad person.
However, if Herald staff has acted in this sinful manner, Herald needs to name Herald Staff in the list and find a space in that special place in hell reserved for all of us who engage in voluntary trade.
Cross posted at The Sports Economist
Update: Never mind that the profiteering students are transfering tickets to those who value them the more than the students. Herald Staff thinks that must be a bad thing.
Also never mind that students get "cheap face value tickets" in the first place through a process we economists call price discrimination, itself a something made possible by the profit motive.