October 27, 2015 –Beginning today, the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets will begin battling it out for the title of “World Champions,” and many fans are still looking to get their hands on tickets and World Series merchandise. BBB serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa is warning baseball enthusiasts to watch-out for phony deals, fake tickets and counterfeit World Series related items.

Tickets to the games sold out almost immediately. This means that anyone who still wishes to get tickets must purchase them from a ticket reseller. Currently, prices on the secondary market range from hundreds of dollars for standing room tickets to more than ten thousand dollars for seats closer to the field. Bogus tickets may not be delivered after payment, will not be awaiting the buyer at the ballpark’s “will call” window, can have invalid bar codes or may simply be counterfeit in other ways.

Last year, federal agents seized thousands of bogus “World Series” items ranging from caps and tee shirts to baby clothes. Counterfeit merchandise is not the authentic memorabilia that fans want and often is also of very poor quality and does not support the league.

BBB offers these tips so baseball fans can avoid being ripped off:

• Avoid buying tickets from unknown sellers through online classified listings, auctions, or bulletin boards even if they offer face-to-face exchanges. Stick to reputable ticket sellers with a track record you can verify.
• Before purchasing tickets through an online broker, visit their BBB Business Review page bbb.org for a history of complaints and Customer Reviews. You can also check to see if they are a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers at natb.org/MemberList.aspx – an organization that works with law enforcement agencies, professional sports teams and other organizations to fight against counterfeit tickets.
• Research the ticket broker’s refund policy before purchasing. Tickets for World Series games are very expensive so you’ll want to check to make sure that the ticket broker will cover the full cost of the tickets in the event that one of the games is canceled or if the tickets don’t work when you arrive at the gate.
• Do not buy tickets from sellers who may approach you on the street claiming to have tickets for sale. There’s no way to verify that tickets from individual scalpers are real until you attempt to use to them to get into the stadium.
• Always use a credit card so you have additional protection. Never pay with cash and don’t wire money: in these cases, there is no way to get your money back if the tickets do not arrive.

Counterfeit World Series goods may be hawked by sellers outside the ballpark, on the street or on counterfeit websites that may not originate in the U.S. Fans who want the real article should rely on purchasing from authentic MLB-licensed sellers, such as the teams’ own websites and shops in the ballpark.

Check merchandise to see if it bears the official MLB hologram on the sales tag which is very hard to fake, along with an alphanumeric ID. Authentic team apparel should carry official team logos and copyright marks, instead of just tags bearing information about the country of origin.

If you believe a business is scamming consumers in connection with the World Series, you can file a complaint with BBB at bbbinc.org or 800-649-6814.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Class 3A
Region 2
(3-0) Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 25-25-25, Greene County 8-12-13
(3-0) East Sac County 25-25-25, Southeast Valley 14-11-10
(3-0) Clarinda 25-25-25, Atlantic 21-10-14
(3-0) Red Oak 25-25-25, Shenandoah 11-12-12

Class 4A
Region 1
(3-1) Denison-Schleswig 25-24-25-25, Storm Lake 20-26-14-19
Region 2
(3-0) Winterset 25-25-25, Des Moines, Hoover 13-12-12
Region 3
(3-2) Lewis Central 25-27-22-25-15, Glenwood 17-29-25-18-8
(3-0) Creston 25-25-25, Carlisle 19-17-13

Class 5A
Region 2
(3-1) Abraham Lincoln  Thomas Jefferson, (25-23, 25-20, 13-25, 25-12)

Class 1A

Region 2
Ar-We-Va @ Boyer Valley
Gehlen Catholic @ Westwood
Kingsley-Pierson @ Siouxland Community
Trinity Christian @ George-Little Rock

Region 3
Nishnabotna @ Sidney
East Mills @ Fremont-Mills
Bedford @ Mt. Ayr
Essex @ Stanton

Region 4
Coon Rapids-Bayard @ Audubon
Exira-EHK @ Adair-Casey
Grand View Christian @ Guthrie Center
East Union @ Murray

Class 2A

Region 2
Ridge View @ Unity Christian
IKM-Manning @ Manson-NW Webster
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto @ Lawton-Bronson
Woodbury Central @ Hinton

Region 3
Underwood @ Council Bluffs St. Albert
Southwest Valley @ Treynor
Missouri Valley @ Tri-Center
West Central Valley @ Panorama

Iowa Prep Football Poll
The Associated Press

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says offensive coordinator Mark Mangino has left the program. Rhoads says he and Mangino haven’t been on the same page for weeks. Rhoads wouldn’t say whether Mangino quit or was fired. The move Monday came on the same day Iowa State promoted sophomore Joel Lanning to a starting role over senior Sam Richardson, but Rhoads says Lanning’s promotion was not the reason Mangino left.

Rhoads announced that passing game coordinator Todd Sturdy will take over for Mangino, starting with Saturday’s game against Texas (3-4, 2-2 Big 12). Mangino was 50-48 in eight seasons as the coach at Kansas. He joined Rhoads’ staff prior to last season. Iowa State (2-5, 1-3) is averaging 26.9 points per game.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Class 3A

Region 2
Greene County @ Kuemper Catholic
Southeast Valley @ East Sac CountyAtlantic @ Clarinda
Shenandoah @ Red Oak

Class 4A

Region 1
Storm Lake @ Denison-Schleswig
Spencer @ LeMars

Region 2
Perry @ Dallas Center-Grimes
Des Moines Hoover @ Winterset

Region 3
Glenwood @ Lewis Central
Carlisle @ Creston

Class 5A

Region 2
Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson @ Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Andy Rice threw for 267 yards with four touchdowns and Drake defeated Jacksonville 28-24 on Saturday. Rice connected with Andrew Yarwood from 19 yards out with 3:14 left for the game’s final score. Drake (4-4, 3-2 Pioneer Football League) took command early when Rice found Eric Saubert twice for scores_of 13 and 9 yards_to give the Bulldogs a 14-3 lead before the Dolphins scored three straight touchdowns.

Kade Bell hit Brian Burnett from 33 yards just before the half. After the break, Bell found Orlando Thomas on a 10-yarder and Ulysses Bryant ran three yards to give the Dolphins a 24-14 lead. But Rice connected with Saubert again for a 10-yard TD toss with 13:30 left in the game to cut the lead to 24-21. Saubert finished with nine catches and 118 yards.

Bell threw for 235 yards and Bryant ran for 104 for Jacksonville (6-1, 3-1).