I usually just read the posts and never post anything but this thread caught my eye.
He's probably not on the radar of most Eagles fans, but Trent Reznor posted an excellent piece on his forum last summer when the discussion came up about scalping and people getting tickets before they go on-sale.
He ran his ticketing system perfectly for the past several tours. Register (for free) on his site, purchase great...and I mean GREAT seats...for $45-60 and minimal service charge at a "fan club-only" presale. The tickets are held at the venue and are picked up the day of the show. A NIN representative runs a separate will-call window. Once you get your tickets by providing a picture id you are made to enter the arena immediately. There is no chance of scalping the seats. The past five times we've seen NIN perform using this system we've never been further than the 7th row. The last tour he even allowed us to bring in digital SLRs and detachable lenses as long as they were under 20" extended.
Here's the link to his explanation of how a lot of bands and promoters handle ticketing:
http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?59,548515