The Black Market Men
By Andrew Jennings
Sunday January 31, 2010
The Man with the Big Bag of Tickets makes me an offer. ‘You want Cat 1 tickets? England v USA? Give me two to three times face value – that’s about $500. The guys at MATCH are going to charge you around $950. All you get for the extra is parking space, a buffet and some drinks.’
These guys are proud of what they do – they love the cut and thrust of deal-making with other operators and the public.
They also know that if this World Cup needs rescuing, they will be the people to do it. ‘We know how to sell tickets, the fans know where we are, they know that we will be undercutting FIFA’s prices. We are not committed to high-priced airlines, we can put together charter trips, we know how to batter the hotels down to room prices fans can afford.’
They are true believers in the rough and tumble of free markets. They reckon they care more for the fans and say that if they ran the tickets and travel business of the World Cup, fans would get better, cheaper service.
‘Blatter has given a virtual monopoly to the Byroms,’ I’m told, ‘If you are one of their agents you have to buy the hotel room, you have to buy the airline seat, you have to buy the ticket and then this year, because MATCH’s products are over-priced for what the market can bear, you have to file for bankruptcy!’
One says to me, angrily, ‘Where have you reporters been all these years? Why don’t you ever ask how this one family got all this business from FIFA?
Another says, ‘Any event that doesn't have black market is a dead event. It means that no one gives a shit and that there is no demand for tickets.’
The ticket brokers, the travel agents, the black market men are watching and waiting for demand for tickets to pick up. They are ready and ask, how else is FIFA going to fill those empty seats?