Dave's Blog - Wakeman Consulting Group

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 […]

From Flailing to Focused: An Extraction Economy Manifesto

From Flailing to Focused You know the feeling. Things feel okay. The numbers look fine. Your board isn’t panicking. But there is something you can’t shake. A weight. An unease. A sense that the foundation isn’t as solid as the spreadsheets suggest. You’ve moved the numbers around. Highlighted different metrics. Told a new twist on […]

Blue Dot Fever

“Blue Dot Fever” is everywhere. The New York Post. Twitter. TikTok. Everywhere. The seating charts are damning. Whole sections unsold. Blue dots just staring at you. A lot of folks will tell you this happens all the time…those are folks on the primary side. Other folks will say this is a sign that customers have gotten […]