Staples Moves to KO Scalpers

In a counter-punch to ticket scalpers, Staples Center plans to auction 400 ringside seats to the upcoming Lennox Lewis-Kirk Johnson fight.

Staples is starting the opening bid for a pair of tickets to the June 21 bout at $3,000. The price includes valet parking and passes to pre- and post-fight events.

The online auction through Ticketmaster, which is set to start today and run for a week, is a novel attempt to circumvent scalpers and boost the arena’s revenue.

“It gives control of the tickets back to the event without giving scalpers the ability to create the demand,” said Staples Center President Tim Leiweke, who added that if the tactic is successful, he would consider doing it again.

Promoters and venue owners have long blamed scalpers for gobbling up highly sought event tickets and then reselling them at jacked-up prices.

In California, scalping a ticket on the grounds of an entertainment venue is a misdemeanor. But it is legal for licensed brokers to resell tickets at exorbitant prices.

The move by Staples concerns John Nelson, a manager at Premier Tickets, a San Diego-based ticket broker. “If they’re successful with marketing their own tickets, it could cut us out,” Nelson said. “It would be like Ford directly selling their cars without dealers.”

Several Los Angeles-area ticket brokers declined to comment. Representatives of the National Assn. of Ticket Brokers in Washington did not return several phone calls for comment.

Tickets for the rest of the arena’s seats will go on sale May 3. Among those will be an additional 856 premier seats.

Staples Center has not yet priced these tickets, but they could fetch $1,200 to $2,000, depending on who is on the fight card. As of Thursday night, Mike Tyson had not signed to fight on the card.

Still, Staples Center officials believe fans will be willing to bid more than $3,000 for the choicest ringside seats.

Staples’ auction -- the first for the 18,000-seat arena -- won’t be able to keep scalpers or brokers from bidding on Ticketmaster and then reselling the tickets.

But several experts said they thought a good many scalpers would be knocked out.

“You are eliminating those ticket brokers making money,” said Christian Printup, who co-promoted the recent Boxing Council lightweight championship fight in Fresno. “It’s a shrewd move.”