Whose tickets are they?

State Sen. Lois Tochtrop makes a good analogy. Suppose you buy a new car at a local dealer and later want to sell it. But there's a catch: You can only sell it back to the dealer - and only at the original price, even if it's become a highly valued collector's item.

The very idea is laughable. Yet this is essentially the dilemma faced by Denver Broncos season ticket holders. Legislation introduced in the Colorado General Assembly on Wednesday to resolve that dilemma in favor of ticket holders is laudable.

Last spring, the Broncos politely warned season ticket holders by letter that if they wished to sell their tickets, they could do so only at face value and only through TicketExchange, an online program set up through Broncos' partner Ticketmaster.

Those who sell their tickets through "unauthorized outlets" ("including but not limited to newspapers, Internet or any media," as the Broncos put it) could see their accounts revoked.

This assault on property rights spurred a loose coalition of fans and ticket brokers to bring the situation to the attention of Tochtrop, D-Thornton. She in turn has drawn up legislation that would free fans to sell their tickets however they wish. Unless, of course they're trying to sell the ticket at more than face value in Denver, where the city's anti-scalping ordinance would continue to outlaw such transactions. (Memo to Denver council members: Do you really want your city's football fans to enjoy less resale freedom than ticket holders living just across city lines?)

For ticket holders outside Denver, Tochtrop's bill should ensure that they can get whatever the market will bear for tickets they sell. Which is as it should be: The resale of tickets - whether for the Broncos, the Rockies or a touring Broadway show - occurs between consenting adults and is a threat to no one.

The Broncos, naturally, see things differently. The team views the tickets essentially as its property - a "revokable license" reads the fine print on the tickets themselves - even after they're sold. But as a longstanding matter of custom and usage, tickets are the property of the ticket holder.

Beyond this, the team expresses touching concern that getting tickets outside of the channels it controls might expose the purchaser to potential fraud. "When you are buying through someone who is not authorized," said Broncos ticket manager Kirk Dyer in the Rocky Thursday, "you don't know what you are buying. When you buy through Ticketmaster, we know it's a legitimate ticket."

Yet sports tickets are already scalped in profusion without any epidemic of counterfeiting or fraud - which in any case is illegal. A ticket broker or concierge who sells a phony ducat could, in short, face arrest. Even the most casual street-corner transaction can be protected, to some extent, by demands for sufficient identification and contact information should there be any suspicion of fraud. Beyond this, everyone should be aware of the age-old maxim caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

In its letter last year to its season ticket holders, the Broncos twice thanked them for their continued support, which the team "truly appreciated." The efforts of the Broncos and other organizations to monopolize a portion of America's $2 billion resale market for their own benefit and at the expense of ticket holders, however, makes us wonder just how much that support is "truly appreciated."