When beloved Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away over the weekend, and then came back to life briefly, and then finally succumbed to his illness, the first thought on at least one Nittany Lion's mind was, "I can't wait to gouge the prices on tickets to his free memorial service!" The approximately 16,000 free tickets made available to students and alums for Thursday's on-campus service were snatched up within minutes, and soon after a pair appeared on eBay with a $0.99 starting bid. That bid soon escalated to $150, and then an hour later, to nearly $100,000.
If you're looking to throw your hat in, it's too late. eBay removed the listing from its site. But if you're willing to mourn Joe Paterno for $100,000, you're better off bribing a cemetery worker to spend a night in the coach's grave.
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Courtney | 01/27/2012 flag
This was not a student
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Allen | 01/26/2012 flag
I along with several other people ran that price of those tickets up to 100,000+. We did it on the 8 or 9 that were listed on eBay that morning because it would prevent anyone from actually winning the tickets. This was after we reported the auction to eBay because selling free public event tickets is against eBay policy
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Meech! | 01/24/2012 flag
I TOTALLY would have sold mine if they were in high demand.
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Dan | 01/24/2012 flag
In related news, Penn State to begin offering seminars in grammar and spelling to its illiterate masses.
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Sara | 01/24/2012 flag
Hate to break it to you, but I did get tickets, they were open to the general public, no ID number required. Please fact check your stories before posting them. That's what real journalists do.
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Doug | 01/24/2012 flag
Good fact checking...but I guess you are like the rest of the media and never take to seconds to make sure you are right. The ad was posted at 8:30 in the morning before tickets were even distributed. It was a broker that was selling it, but you can say it was a student to go along with the picture your painting. Also, it went over $100,000.00 because people were outraged by it and were trying to get it taken off.
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Mary | 01/24/2012 flag
I am an alumni and I was never made aware of the fact that they were only available to students or alumni. It would be rather difficult to do so. Also, there are thousands of Joe Paterno supports that did not attend Penn State (especially residents of State College). It seems unlikely they would be excluded.
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Matt | 01/24/2012 flag
And the price soared to $100k because students falsely bid (not intending to pay) so that the seller wouldn't get the satisfaction of scalping the ticket.
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Matt | 01/24/2012 flag
The tickets were open to the general public, and I can guarantee you the students were not the ones gouging. Not even all the football players were able to get tickets!
Get the facts right before you write your hateful articles and comments -
Arrrgh Matey | 01/24/2012 flag
@Mary, the tickets were only available to students and alums. I'm sure they had to present some kind of ID in order to get it.
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Mary | 01/24/2012 flag
I'm sorry but you have no proof that this was a Penn State student. I am guessing that it is some outsider trying to capitalize on the grief of the Penn State community.
