‘Free' Obama tickets going for hundreds on Craigslist

FOX 32 NEWS - Thousands of people lined up early Saturday morning, outside Chicago’s McCormick Place, to get their free tickets to President Barack Obama’s Farewell speech.

The event will be held Tuesday night at 8pm. Tickets were first come, first serve Saturday morning and were gone just a few hours after the doors opened around 6am.

Ticketholders had to have patience Saturday morning.  They waited outside in freezing temperatures in a line that snaked through and around McCormick Place, determined to wait it out and get a ticket to history.

“It is a historic moment, but I don't know, I could use the money for other things towards tuition and projects,” said DePaul University student Mike Lawani, who fully intended on going to the speech until he realized he could cash in.

Lawani wants seven hundred dollars for a pair of tickets.

Some people are selling their tickets for thousands of dollars on third party websites.  One seller asking for ten thousand dollars for a pair of tickets.

Some buyers are getting creative.  One Chicagoan is hoping to swap a 40-inch LED TV for a ticket to history.

“There's got to be someone out there that has a ticket and wants a TV more than the ticket,” said hopeful buyer Allison Ward. “Maybe they can watch the speech on the TV instead.”

If you are worried about counterfeit tickets, officials say each ticket should have a barcode on the front.
If you didn’t get a ticket to the Tuesday night event, FOX 32 will broadcast the speech starting at 8PM.