Gathered along the stretch of Friars Road a few blocks west of Jack Murphy Stadium before the San Diego Chargers season opener, the scalpers are practicing their trade, waiting for eager football fans to come by and play a variation of "Let's Make a Deal."

    Just like beer flowing at tailgate parties, these entrepreneurs are part of every San Diego Chargers' and Padres' home game, and just about ever other sports and entertainment event the stadium hosts.

    Striving to be recognized, the scalpers line up a few blocks away from the stadium. To tantalize passing motorists they hold a handful of cash and a sign that declares "I need tickets," or simply hold out the tickets. The activity is legal, as long as it occurs away from stadium grounds. (State law says it’s OK to sell tickets at a venue for face value or less; the city is stricter. Exchanging that $40 Chargers ticket for a dollar bill from a barbecuing neighbor in the parking lot can get you arrested.)

    Selling tickets prior to the Chargers opening game against the Seattle Seahawks was Kevin Rickler, a recent graduate of Arizona State University. Scalping, he says, paid his way through college and also prompted the Tempe, Ariz., resident's trip here for the Seattle contest. Rickler's strategy is simple: Buy from fans who have extra tickets on their way to the game and resell them, at a higher price, to fans wanting to go.

    The value of a scalped ticket is iffy, as the sold-out Chargers' game with Seattle demonstrated.

    "People don’t want to buy tickets if they can watch the game for free," Rickler says. "I expect today I’ll probably buy 10 to 40 tickets, and resell each of them for an extra $10."

    Nevertheless, there is money to be made.

    "I don’t want to say what the most I’ve ever made is, but generally it can range from losing as much as $200 to making as much as $500," says Rickler, 23. "The price you charge is simply supply-and-demand, so really face value of tickets means nothing. It could be a case where you buy tickets for $100 and sell them back for $1,000 apiece. A lot of people get mad when you sell tickets for over face value, but they've got to understand it’s all just economics. Of course they think you’re doing them a service when you’re selling for under face value."

    On this particular Sunday, three hours before kick-off, Rickler and a group of other scalpers staked out a spot due east of the stadium on the corner of San Diego Mission Road and Rancho Mission Road. The prime location allows passing motorists to easily pull over and do business. Not all deals close and scalpers have no qualms about throwing away tickets rather than selling them for a "ridiculous" low price, Rickler says.

    While scalpers know the rules, they occasionally succumb to the temptation to conduct business on stadium property.

    One scalper, a regular at the intersection of Friars Road and River Run Drive who declined to be named, says an arrest for a $5 sale in the parking lot earned him three years probation. During the course of an interview he bought from passing motorists 15 tickets to the Sept. 8 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and predicted he would sell the lot at an average profit of $20 per ticket.

    "I have acquired a taste for tickets," he says. "I’m doing no more than a miniaturized Dow Jones exchange, trying to make a little money. For me, it helps if the Chargers have a good year, but not too good, because then people think their tickets are like gold and won’t sell them for a reasonable price. I’m a very fair person, and usually I sell tickets for below face value, so I get a lot of repeat business. I’m very customer oriented. I even carry a map of the stadium with me so people will know where they're sitting." Chargers' games remain the biggest paydays, but the combination of the first winning Padres season in several years and the pennant race means baseball this year will generate more income for certain scalpers.

    (Of course baseball also brings more opportunities; 81 home games compared to eight for professional football.)

    Although most scalpers are out to make a profit, others are just trying to get their money back on tickets they bought but can’t use, for whatever reason. Todd Rainey, a Chargers season ticket holder, is one. Rainey says he was arrested last year in the stadium parking lot for driving under the influence after the game against the Cleveland Browns.

    The subsequent financial burden - fines, fees and loss of his $40,000-a-year job as a pest-control worker - forced him into a situation where he now just wants to get his season ticket money back.

    "This is the first time I’ve ever done this, and really I wish I could go to the game, but I’ve got bills to pay," says Rainey, standing at the same location as Rickler prior to the Seattle game. "I’m hoping to get face value ($40) for each game except against the (Oakland) Raiders (on Oct. 21 on Monday Night Football). I already sold my ticket to a guy I know in AA who's a big Raider fan for $75. He's got a shaved head with a Raider tattoo on the back of it. I kind of feel bad for the Chargers' fans who will be sitting near him, especially the ones behind him, but at least I know he won’t get drunk and obnoxious."

    Vinnie Campise is the flip side of the street scalper. For more than 10 years, Campise has owned Atlas Tickets, a firmly established ticket brokering agency located a stone's throw from the Sports Arena. Campise describes his clientele as upscale.

    "The people who come to me are pretty much rich, and they want to buy a premium ticket in a specific location, not just any seat in the stadium," he says.

    Part of Campise's winning formula for advanced ticket buys is forecasting how competitive a team the Chargers will field. Prior to this coming season, Campise took a hard look at the team's schedule, saw no guaranteed premium home games out of the division, meaning no games against marquee teams such as the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. He also saw an extremely tough road schedule. With a realistic possibility of a losing season, Campise took a conservative approach to buying tickets.

    With the Chargers' winning record entering October, demand is heating up, particularly for the Nov. 11 game against the Detroit Lions, which will be seen on Monday Night Football.

    Although Campise admits a small measure of animosity for the pre-game street scalpers who, unlike him, are operating without business licenses, he also granted them a measure of capitalistic sympathy.

    "Those guys are not hurting anybody," Campise said. "They're just out there trying to run a little hustle and make some money."