Staples at the Center of More Controversy

If you arrived at Staples Center’s parking lot No. 2 one minute after six o’clock Saturday morning and hoped to land Laker playoff tickets, you were out of luck.

Because for the second weekend in a row, the high demand to watch the Lakers’ postseason run in person caught Staples Center by surprise, forcing officials to make adjustments to their previously announced plan.

After a near riot broke out on April 8 because of poor ticket distribution planning, an advertisement paid for by Staples Center ran all week in local newspapers apologizing for the mishap and detailing the new procedure for this weekend.

Fans were told that no lines would be formed until 6 a.m. at Staples Center’s box office and then an hour later, 500 wristbands would be distributed for today’s 9 a.m. lottery designation to purchase playoff tickets.

But when more than 1,000 people were already lined up a half hour before the 6 a.m. start time, a decision was made to hold a lottery for the distribution of wristbands.

“It’s become a triple-raffle situation,” said Michael Roth, Staples Center director of communication. “There were so many people at six o’clock lined up . . . we decided to cut the line at that time and hold a raffle to select 500 people for numbered wristbands.”

With nearby streets blocked off and the two closest parking lots not usable, a late informed group of people missed out on receiving a raffle ticket. Bertha Martinez of Los Angeles, who waited with her young daughter Jennifer for more than four hours last week without getting a ticket, was nearly in tears when she found out she missed the cut.

“We were here last week, right up near the front, and we waited for four hours to be told there were no tickets,” Martinez said. “They told everybody that you couldn’t even wait in line until six.”

It was a logical decision, according to Roth.

“The Staples Center and the Lakers are trying to do everything they can so the true Laker fans have the opportunity to purchase tickets at face value,” Roth said.

“There were complaints [from last week], but a majority of people who contacted us said they understand why we had to choose to delay the ticketing process by a week. The ones that were here realized that it became neither a fair or safe situation.”

That answer did not satisfy Martinez.

“I don’t know what to do. What can you do?” Martinez said. “I am very upset at the way management did this. It’s not fair to the people who were here last week in line and waited all day. Then I get here at six and they tell me I’m too late. . . . They should have told us to get here earlier.”

Martinez lost out because they arrived on time. Others such as Steve Ma of Woodland Hills missed out because they arrived too early. Ma, along with his mother Katrina, made sure they were among the first in line by arriving at the parking lot at 3:30 a.m.

The bulk of the 500 people selected to receive wristbands were near the end of the long raffle line. Most of the early risers went home without a wristband.

“According to their web site, they said there would be only one lottery,” said Ma, who decided to get to Staples Center early because of the bad taste left from last weekend.

Ma, who is restricted to a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, is a lifelong Laker fan whose dream is to see a playoff game in Los Angeles’ newest downtown attraction.

“They should have the first 200 people locked into a space and then have people after that in a lottery,” Ma said. “That way you would reward people for coming out early.”

But because brokers and scalpers are known to end up with the tickets gained by early squatters, Staples Center has been searching for a process that works for everyone.

“We made it so anyone who lined up early would not have an advantage over someone who lined up right at six o’clock,” Roth said. “We were ready in case there were more people at that hour. . . . I think this was a fair method. It gave everybody a second chance.”

In previous years when the Lakers played at the Forum and made the playoffs, the system was more efficient, according to fans. A stamp raffle system was used and because of the Forum’s setup, rarely were there any problems.

“At the Forum they allowed you to sit in the parking lot because everyone knew there wasn’t going to be any lines,” Tony Summers of Los Angeles said. “Then they would go stamp your hand and then you would go to the lottery bind and get your number. Then you came back later and if they called your number, you lined up in groups of 10. By the time you got to the window and if they had any left, that was it.”