Ohio State tickets vs. adoption? It's no contest

updated 1:43 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 2006

CANTON, Ohio — With fans scrambling to obtain tickets to Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State football game, a couple is auctioning off their seats to raise money to adopt a boy from Guatemala.

Ken and Kristie Sigler have season tickets in the closed end of Ohio Stadium, about 10 rows from the field. They have put the two tickets up for sale on eBay, hoping the payout helps defray the $12,500 cost to begin processing their adoption paperwork.

(*Please see an update to this story below — eBay later removed the tickets from its site, saying their sale was in contravention of its rules.)

They set the minimum bid at $1,000, with an option to purchase the tickets directly for $1,500. No bids had been made as of early Tuesday.

At first, the couple were hesitant them to sell the tickets, but with adoption fees mounting — costs total about $30,000, including the paperwork fee — the decision became easier.

The top-ranked Buckeyes and second-ranked Wolverines are both undefeated, and the winner advances to the national championship game.

"It's just one day, one game, compared to changing this little boy's life with us," Kristie Sigler said.

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*STORY UPDATE: A woman says eBay has shut down her sale of two tickets to Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State football game that she and her husband had hoped would help them raise money to adopt a boy from Guatemala.

Kristie Sigler and her husband, Ken, put their season tickets, about 10 rows from the field, on the Internet auction site hoping the payout would help defray the $12,500 cost to begin processing their adoption paperwork.

But Sigler said eBay canceled the sale Wednesday, saying it violated its policy on charitable auctions.

"They never called, never e-mailed us or anything. They took it off and said because we were using the auction as fundraiser for the adoption, it violated their policy," Kristie Sigler told The Repository newspaper in Thursday's editions.

According to its Web site, eBay has specific guidelines for charitable fundraising because the area is subject to many state and federal laws. A message seeking comment from the company was left early Thursday.

The couple had been offered as much as $1,550 for the tickets by Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm most concerned that people will think we weren't being genuine," Sigler said. "We're still selling the tickets."

The tickets are now listed on the Web site dreamseats.com.

The top-ranked Buckeyes and second-ranked Wolverines are both undefeated, and the winner advances to the national championship game.

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