Advanced tickets

What is it these days with advanced tickets? This seems a very recent trend & I can't think when it first started. If you wish to go to almost any event you can think of these days you have to book the tickets sometimes months in advance to be sure of getting in. This leaves the whole thing wide open for ticket agencies to buy up batches & resell them at extortionate profits. The poor old punter usually ends up paying far more than the marked ticket price. 
I just heard a snippet on BBC Radio News about the next European Cup finals in 2006. The tickets go on sale soon so you'd better get your application in. They pointed out that it's a bit of a lottery & you might not get tickets for the match you wish to see. Nobody knows which teams will be taking part or the stadiums they will be playing in. So far only Germany has qualified so I assume they are the host country. Not being interested in football I don't even know where or when this event is taking place.
Is it me or has the whole world gone mad?
Even if I wished to go, which I don't, I don't even know if I'll be alive in 2006. 

I just heard a snippet on BBC Radio News about the next European Cup finals in 2006. The tickets go on sale soon so you'd better get your application in. They pointed out that it's a bit of a lottery & you might not get tickets for the match you wish to see. Nobody knows which teams will be taking part or the stadiums they will be playing in. So far only Germany has qualified so I assume they are the host country. Not being interested in football I don't even know where or when this event is taking place.

Is it me or has the whole world gone mad?

