Ben's Blog: Get Your Tickets Here, Or There

Here’s a tale as told to me by my wife, Mandy …

A Scandinavian woman was loitering in the atrium of ticket reseller CoSport’s offices in the Botafogo neighborhood, making an audacious offer to anyone who’d listen: two opening ceremony tickets for sale, $3,000 each in cash.

Apparently she’d come to regret the pair of high-end seats for Friday’s festivities and was looking to unload them. But rather than try free-market standbys like StubHub, SeatGeek or a cardboard sign outside the stadium itself, she was playing in the byzantine rules of Olympic ticket distribution.

At least according to CoSport office staff, she was free to re-sell the seats as long as she stayed on CoSport property. She hawked in English. After about 25 minutes, she had no serious offers.