Students Experience Real-World Economics by Reselling Childish Gambino Tickets for Profit

GSU—This afternoon, students got a first-hand look at supply-and-demand economics when a shortage of tickets to BU’s fall concert led to a veritable gold rush this afternoon.“Childish Gambino is playing Metcalf tonight,” explained Jim Steinberg (ENG ‘14) earlier today. “Everyone was too busy moving in and starting classes at the beginning of the week, so a lot of people didn’t buy their tickets fast enough,” said Jim, one of many students who helped to sell out the show by buying tickets early before checking to see if he was actually free this Friday night to go to the concert. “Unfortunately I can’t go because my parents are in town, so I’m trying to sell my ticket and maybe make a few bucks off of it.”Jim and other students who had purchased tickets for tonight’s show quickly realized the huge and sudden demand from other students on websites like Facebook and Twitter. Demand has skyrocketed in the past 24 hours, right on the heels of the sudden realization by the rest of the student body that there is a concert tonight in the first place.“I heard about the concert from my friend in class this morning and I couldn’t believe it!” said one freshman who was seen purchasing tickets from a sophomore student for twice their face value. “Then I tried to get tickets and saw that they were sold out, and I couldn’t believe that, either!”Ed Collins (COM '14) estimates that students scalping tickets are making a profit of anywhere between $5 and $15, with some making as much as $20. “Gambino is really popular, and these kids are getting desperate.” Ed says.In the late afternoon, Bunion offices received reports from Mugar Library’s print center of a 40-sheet print job containing what appeared to be copies of a single ticket. Programming Council advises students to arrive at Metcalf Ballroom as early as possible and to hope that the barcodes of their tickets haven’t already been scanned.