Buying tix at MCI Center?

[bfraim]

Can anyone tell me if it's a good idea to wait out and buy tickets for an MCI Center show at the box office?  
 
 For example, can I expect a ton of people?  Do they always use a lottery?  Do they usually get you good seats?  Credit cards accepted? etc.  
 
 Thanks in advance...

[Mongo]

its a bad idea now that online ticket sales exists.  Unless you are the first person in line and get a lightning fast sales person you are probably screwed assuming this is the Stones show you are talking about.  Your best bet is to get online and cross your fingers.  
 
 I, however, got extremely lucky once when I was the next person in line just when a second U2 show got added.  I got floor tix immediately and the person behind me got shit seats.  That's the way it goes when you are in a "physical" line.
 
 BTW ticketmaster still sucks.  I am convinced there are large numbers of tickets that are unavailble to the general public which are snagged up either by internal employees and sold to scalpers or simply set aside for them.  I have a hard time beleiving scalpers are able to get the amount of tickets they do simply by sheer manpower.  Does anyone know the real story?

[walkonby]

if you know the story, you're dead.  just ask "god's banker."

[challenged]

Originally posted by walkonby:
  if you know the story, you're dead.  just ask "god's banker."

So many tickets disappear before the onsale to date to so many outlets.  For example, Wizards season ticket holders received a presale password for the good seats ($400 and $163) only. I can still get into section 121 if I want to pay around $1000 for two tickets.

[bearman🐻]

Rumor is that if you get there the morning tickets for a concert goes on sale, more people are on the internet trying to get tickets and thus it's more difficult to get them. Even if there are some folks in line, they expedite the process fairly quickly, plus there's NO TICKETMASTER SERVICE CHARGE! I don't think it hurts to try...in fact, your chances are better at getting tickets than not getting anything at all. I think it's worth it to go there just so you can stick your middle finger to Ticketbastard.

[sonickteam2]

i used to work for a company that was also a Ticketmaster outlet.  whenever a good show came up that was going to sell quickly. I could have one of the accounting people (or my manager) pull tickets early to the show, before 10am or whatever.
 
 Also, one time for a concert, we gave everyone who camped out a voucher for how many tickets they wanted.  there was an 8 ticket limit, so at 10am, I stood at the TM machine and bought 8 tickets over and over and over again, and the other dude was just selling em as they printed out!  I printed out about 350 tickets in 15 minutes til the show sold out, then we just sold them to everyone with a voucher, people were literally buying tickets an hour after the show was sold out.
 
   just a couple ways tickets can go all too fast.

[bfraim]

Good points above, however I am really curious about how many people I could expect to be in line with at the MCI Center for the Stones ticket sale.  
 
 Also, do they conduct a lottery, or is it first-come, first-served?
 
 
 P.S.- There was a place I used to go to a lot that was a T'master outlet.  The guy would send around a clipboard beforehand and everyone would specify how many tickets they wanted.  He would take the list inside after locking the door (they didn't open until 10am or later on Saturdays) and print the tickets.  I found out later that the guy was secretly keeping the best tickets for himself and re-selling them to scalpers.  Someone got suspicious ans comlpained to T'master.  They sent out an investigator who printed down the serial number for the tickets that the first person in line was able to purchase.  They busted the guy b/c the first tix the computer printed were not the same.  I really think this still goes on- espeically at places where the ticket machine is hidden from view...