Ticket scalping, once illegal, now encouraged

If ticket scalping (called "touting" in England) moves tickets to their highest valued use, it seems as if it ought to be encouraged. But up until recently, it was not.

Now however, there seems to be a new appreciation of what markets can do for sports teams, musicians, and other performers. From the Economist:

• In August MLB.com, a subsidiary of Major League Baseball, signed a five-year landmark deal with StubHub, America's largest exchange. When the baseball season begins next spring, the 30 MLB clubs will refer ticketless fans to StubHub and receive an undisclosed cut of the resale revenue.
• Ticketmaster now has its own resale subsidiary, TicketExchange. More than 50 professional sports teams have now negotiated a cut of TicketExchange's resale revenue.
• Europe's biggest online ticket reseller, viagogo, based in London, this year signed deals with several English football clubs, the Scottish Premier League, lastminute.com (an online travel agency), Warner International Music and several other entertainment companies.