Dave's Blog - Wakeman Consulting Group

Never Have a Chance: The USMNT Will Never Challenge for a World Cup While the Development System is Built on Extraction

The US Men’s National Team lost 1-4 to Belgium on Monday night. The World Cup round of 16. The most anticipated men’s soccer match in the United States in decades…maybe ever. Afterwards, Americans were asking: “Why aren’t we more competitive at the top of global soccer?” Two voices have dominated this debate: Alexi Lalas and […]

Hold the Line: Gaining Price Integrity

John Wall Street analyzed the Minnesota Timberwolves today from the angle of “price integrity.” Great stuff. We don’t find enough examples of “price integrity” in tickets because that part of the discussion is often handed over to the secondary market’s myth of “the free market will decide.” Matthew Caldwell has done something difficult with the Minnesota […]

A Ticket Market That Works: A Fan First Ticket Framework

The D.C. RESALE Act is moving in the right direction. Introduced in April 2025, the original idea capped resale prices at face value plus 10%, banned “spec” ticketing, and imposed all-in pricing and refund requirements. As originally conceived, it was a direct attack on the secondary market. The resellers were villains. The primary market victims. […]

The Three Stages of Extraction: How We Built a “Buyer Beware” Economy

The Wall Street Journal reports that Polymarket staged fake wins on copycat websites. Creators filmed themselves celebrating fabricated payouts…$100,00 here, a lucky break there. Just a day in the life of a winner. The real market: running on a public blockchain, showed those same bets would have lost. Across 1,105 videos, roughly $1.9M in bets were shown. […]

The World Cup: A Global Game of Chicken

The World Cup is two weeks away. Thursday brought a few interesting stories: This is what a game of chicken looks like. A structural standoff where the people with tickets thought they’d be able to get football fans to pay anything to see “the biggest World Cup ever.” All they had to do was wait. […]

Who’s Guarding the Game?

College Football Playoff expansion rumors are flowing. 24 teams, baby. More is better. MORE! The SEC meets next week in Destin. This is a topic that will certainly be on the table. The Big Ten wants it. The ACC wants it. The Big 12 wants it. Greg Sankey…doesn’t. He’s set a line at 16. Sankey […]

Vanity Fair Used to Be a Party…

I’ve been a Vanity Fair fan for years. A long-time subscriber. I read Dana Brown’s book on the Graydon Carter era in one sitting. I have a fondness for the magazine and the things it represents: glamour, intelligence, Hollywood. I’m not someone throwing rocks at an easy target. I’m a fan who wants to know […]