Leftovers: Philadelphia Backward?

• Michael Nutter is stepping down as a City Councilman and officially declaring himself a candidate for mayor. So that leaves, what, three vacancies on Council? I’ve solved it! Shift a couple of at-large members to the vacant district council seats, don’t replace anyone and — bingo! — we can reduce the wage tax by a hundreth of a percent or something with the money saved. [Inky]

• As with any -gate scandal, Razorgate is taking a while for the details to come out. KYW 1060 reported today that “[a] search of Razorgator finds a single ticket for the Eagles-Giants game next season going for more than $800. Selling for that price at the stadium will land you in jail.” Indeed. [KYW 1060]

• A dissenting opinion in the Carl Singley for Mayor Phillymag idea comes from — where else? — Bucks County. [Daily Rant]

Eagles Prez To Fans: You’ll Pay Whatever The Hell We Want You To Pay, And You’ll Enjoy It

Today’s Daily News‘ cover story that’s been on 610 WIP pretty much nonstop on certain hours since Eagles’ tix went on sale. It’s all about how, when fans logged on to get tickets online that fateful weekday, nobody seemed to be able to get one.

But then, immediately after, Eagles fans noticed an little blurb on the Eagles’ site for Razor Gator, a California company that scalps tickets over the Internet. (I think right now, we’d like to dub this scandal/non-scandal “Razorgate.” Thank you very much.) And there were suddenly a ton of tickets for sale for, say, the Dallas game. Almost immediately after tickets went on sale!

Now, those tickets could be season tix people are selling in advance. (But why would you sell tickets to the Dallas game?) But that question, combined with the add on the Eagles’ website, kind of makes you go “Hmmm…”, and the radio people have been talking about it for a while, and so the Daily News sent reporter Dave Davies to interview Eagles president Joe Banner.

Banner, apparently, has been taking PR lessons from the Phillies, as he treats the questions as if Davies had asked him when was the last time he punched a child:

The Eagles insist they did no such thing. “This is crazy,” said Eagles president Joe Banner.

“The same number of single-game tickets were available this year as last year, and it’s more than when we were at the Vet,” Banner said. “What was different this year was that, in response to fan complaints, we made them available through the Internet as well as Ticketmaster, so they went that much more quickly.” [...]

“The cynicism and distrust in that question is offensive,” Banner said, “and I wonder why it’s not asked of anyone else.” [...]

Asked if promoting RazorGator is inconsistent with Lincoln Financial Field’s anti-scalping policy, Banner said, “I think we’re playing with semantics here. We accept advertising from a variety of places - including, in this case, a Web site.”

To recap, here’s what Joe Banner thinks:

1. Shut up.
2. I’m offended.
3. If you’re a dude who sells his ticket out front of the Linc, you deserve to rot in jail. If you’re a California-based company, you can get plugged in an article on the Eagles’ official website!
4. La la la la la la I can’t hear you la la la la la!

Thanks, Joe!

Scalping in Birdland? [Daily News]
Eagles vs. Dallas, Lincoln Financial Field, 10.8.06 [RazorGator]
Single Game Tickets Sold Out! [Philadelphia Eagles]