Is StubHub’s MLB catch good for fans?

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Scott Jagow: In pro sports, ticket scalping is — let’s face it — part of the game. So much so that a lot of teams have set up Websites where fans can re-sell the seats they aren’t using.

And today, Major League Baseball will announce a deal with StubHub — that’s the online ticket reseller owned by eBay. More now from Steve Henn.

Sound — cheering at ballgame: Let me hear you, everybody! A one-ah two-ah three! Take me out…

Steve Henn: The deal gives StubHub the exclusive right to set up shop on Major League Baseball team Websites. So if you go to a team site looking for a seat you’ll have more choices. But there’s a catch:

Russ Haven: It’s going to lead to higher ticket resale prices.

Russ Haven from the New York Public Interest Research Group’s a critic of the big fees charged by StubHub, which takes 25 percent of the ticket price. He thinks this deal will make those fees worse.

Haven: It also means that no competitor can come into the marketplace and say “Hey, we can undercut those fees.”

Cash-strapped fans aren’t the only ones likely to call foul. Ticketmaster currently has deals with a dozen major-league teams to resell tickets. The company had no comment yet.

Sound — cheering at ballgame: Let me hear you, everybody! A one-ah two-ah three! Take me out…

In Washington, I’m Steve Henn for Marketplace.