Scalpers snap up Stadium tickets

PROVO — As ads for Stadium of Fire tickets at hyper-inflated prices pop up across the Web, would-be concertgoers say event organizers left doors open for scalpers to snap up their share of tickets.

Within two hours of Friday's record-setting sellout to this year's Stadium of Fire, which features Disney teen star Miley Cyrus, the Blue Man Group and national radio personality Glenn Beck, eBay was already teeming with tickets for heavily marked-up prices.

Some tickets are inflated as much as 10 times their value at the Marriott Center ticket office.

Jennifer Smith, 31, of Slidell, La., said her family has been planning a road trip for quite sometime and hoped to have a pit stop at Stadium of Fire, the main event of the America's Freedom Festival at Provo. When she heard Cyrus was headlining the concert-and-fireworks event, Smith and her friends formed an 11-person network to try to buy the tickets online. None of them made it past the waiting queue.

"I almost wish Miley wasn't playing so we would be able to go," she said.

Smith said she was especially upset when she saw the marked-up prices on eBay.

"It's kind of ridiculous," she said. "So many bought tickets with no plans of going, just to make a profit off it."

She's not the only one who's upset. Brad Pelo, senior executive producer for Stadium of Fire, had some strong words concerning scalping, calling the practice "repulsive."

But that's about as much as he can do.

"It's our understanding that scalping is legal in the state of Utah," he said. "That said, it is our position that we believe that it could be considered immoral because it's profiteering off of emotional demands — in this case, children on their parents."

Pelo said festival organizers will be watching their employees to make sure no one is padding their wallets in the upcoming months.

"If I find any of them scalping tickets, they will be dismissed," he said.

But Smith and others who weren't able to get tickets to Stadium of Fire are still frustrated. One individual posted his exasperation with scalpers Saturday on provo.craigslist.org.

"Not only did you tie up lines and the Internet to buy something you never intended on using," the person wrote. "But you made it impossible for families that wanted to enjoy this together to not have a chance. Just keep on worrying about you ... you're the best!"