Lim Young-woong, '400,000 won scalper ticket' for sightseeing

Singer Lim Young-woong celebrates the K League. As the news spread, fans are busy 'getting tickets' to see Lim Young-woong. Naturally, ticket prices are soaring. Those who cannot get tickets are engaging in 'spinnering'.

According to this newspaper's coverage on the 6th, premium seats that allow you to see Lim Young-woong's demonstration up close are being sold on the used market for more than 200,000 won. At one time, the asking price for some seats rose to 400,000 won. Lim Young-woong's ticket power appears to be affecting the visual axis as well.

According to the entertainment magazine on the 6th, Lim Young-woong will be a pre-game celebrant at the match between FC Seoul and Daegu FC to be held at the World Cup Stadium in Sangam-dong, Seoul at 4:30 pm on the 8th. Lim Young-woong's role as a celebrant stemmed from his relationship with FC Seoul players Ki Sung-yong and Hwang Ui-jo. Lim Young-woong has always loved soccer and has maintained relationships with soccer players.

The ‘Lim Young-woong Premium’, where fans flock whenever Lim Young-woong appears, was also applied to the soccer field. Since concert tickets are already a bargain, fans who want to see the stars are turning their attention to the soccer stadium. Hundreds of thousands of fans are eager to see Lim Young-woong.

Seoul Sangam World Cup Stadium can accommodate more than 50,000 people. However, there is no way to accommodate all of Lim Young-woong’s fans. 20,000 tickets for the game were sold 10 minutes after ticket sales began at 6 p.m. on the 3rd, and 25,000 tickets were sold 30 minutes later.

Discontent is rising among soccer fans. As Lim Young-woong fans flocked in, it became difficult for real soccer fans to find seats. One soccer fan said, "Lim Young-woong's fans will leave the stadium in droves after the match ends, but I'm not sure what help this will have for the K-League."

Ticket scalping itself is also a problem. Legally, scalpers cannot be sold, but direct transactions can only be punished by directly cracking down on them. Online ticket scalping is actually difficult to catch. Only the so-called 'ticket scalpers' who expected Lim Young-woong's premium can get their fill, and fans have no choice but to pay a high price and only see '5 minutes' of the preview.

Entertainment companies have several measures in place to prevent such ticket scalping. Beyond limiting the number of tickets that can be purchased per person, the identity of the person making the reservation is also verified. This is because scalping itself is not good for artists. According to the Korea Music Label Industry Association, one in four people answered that when spending increases due to ticket scalping, the number of times they attend the singer's performances decreases. This means that the problem of ticket scalping is not good for fans in the long run.

Ticket scalping can be a natural phenomenon. However, due to the price of scalped tickets raised by fans, there were more eyes watching the game that day. What would it be like if fans not only watched Lim Young-woong's performance, but also watched the game on this day and cheered enthusiastically? That may also be the wish of Lim Young-woong, who stepped forward as a pallbearer to promote the K-League.

Reporter Junho Yoon, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr