During the boys basketball team’s run in the 2022 CIF playoffs, students reportedly scalped tickets they bought in bulk and duplicated tickets in order to get friends into games.

Lily Weisskopf ’23 said she observed alternative methods students used to enter the basketball games, besides scalping.

“There were some people who would screen record [while] using their ticket and send it around to other kids to help get them in,” Weisskopf said. “The lengths people were willing to go to were crazy to see.”

Even though Athletic Director Matt LaCour instructed students not to do so in an email March 3, some students continued to purchase tickets in excess, planning to sell them for profit once they sold out, Weisskopf said. For the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinal game at Sierra Canyon School, adult tickets priced at $9 and student tickets priced at $5 sold for as high as $70 from second-hand sources after the original tickets sold out in less than an hour.

As the playoffs tournament progressed, the Athletic Department attempted to limit student tickets to one purchase per student account by monitoring the purchase history on the website.

Athletic Director Jason Kelly said the Athletic Department holds the student body to high standards, which he said were violated by the ticket scalping.

“It is [the Athletic Department’s] hope that members of our community will act honestly and with personal integrity when purchasing tickets for popular events,” Kelly said. “Scalping of tickets to school events would not meet the school’s mission or Honor Board principles. Incidents of such behavior can be reported discreetly to any member of the school or athletic administration and would be investigated accordingly.”

Oscar*, who said he first started reselling tickets as early as February, said he believes much of the public disapproval towards ticket scalping can be attributed to misconceptions about the lawfulness of the practice.

“A lot of people think that it’s unfair for somebody to buy multiple tickets, which I understand,” Oscar said. “This is why if somebody at school didn’t have a ticket that wanted to go [to a game], I would give them the ticket for free, and once I was sure nobody else needed a ticket, then I would advertise it.”

Oscar said because of the school’s disapproval of students engaging in ticket scalping, he is not sure whether or not he will continue to resell tickets at basketball games in the future.

“I don’t know if I’ll [resell tickets] in the future, as there is just too much controversy around it,” Oscar said.

  *Name has been changed