Rhode Island Is the Ticket for Scalping Patriots’ Game
Want to buy a Patriots ticket?
No need to slink around and whisper that request in Rhode Island, where it’s legal to scalp tickets for out-of-state events like Sunday’s AFC championship game between Jacksonville and New England in nearby Foxboro, Mass.
“If you’re in Rhode Island and put up a big sign and say, ‘I’ll pay whatever price for a Massachusetts event,’ there is nothing illegal about that,” Christopher Shaban, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said in Providence.
That’s not the case in Massachusetts, where it’s punishable to resell a ticket to any event, anywhere.
Plenty of people are looking to cash in on the Patriots’ surging popularity. The Providence Journal-Bulletin, the state’s largest newspaper, has about 30 classified advertisements offering playoff tickets.
Tim Patnaude of East Providence is offering five 12th-row tickets on the visitors’ side. The face value is $58 each, but he wants $500 apiece.
His classified ad first appeared Thursday morning, and before noon he had received 25 calls.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
