Tickets for the Barack Obama Inaugural gala of 2009 are supposed to be free, cannot be reserved yet, and have not been distributed. Nevertheless, this does not stop them for selling for as much as $10,858 or according to CNN $20,095 from one ticket broker.

The committee in charge of the event has said that no tickets have been sent out to distributors, and all 250,000 of them are in a locked room and will not be released for several months.

Ticket brokers denied comment on the source of their tickets. Only one broker, StubHub, explained that the system was similar to providing Super Bowl tickets. Sales start before tickets are in the hands of the brokers, because they’re confident they’ll acquire them later.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of the District of California, who is chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said she is proposing a bill to ban sales of inauguration tickets. Meanwhile the committee itself is sending a harsh warning letter to Capitol employees, expounding ethics rules about making money from access to power and inauguration tickets.
"Any member of Congress is prohibited from profiting by their position," said Carole Florman, inaugural committee spokeswoman. "A letter is going out to them reminding them of that. Soon."

The January 20 inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president is going to be historic, and everyone wants a ticket.

StubHub spokeswoman Vanessa Daniele says that they’ve sold “several” tickets for the inaugural parade, as well as a pair of tickets for the swearing-in ceremony, for a total cost of $21,716.

“I think it’s shocking,” Florman commented, saying that the brokers were selling “a ticket to nothing” considering they don’t have any tickets yet. Florman continued by pointing out only Congress members can distribute them; and they only get them on January 19, a day before the event.