To elaborate on trading the business ticket for the two coach tickets: you have two different questions. First, does your company allow you to trade tickets and keep the difference? (I gather that it does.)

Second, are you declaring the income? (That's where the NBA referees fouled out.) If you exchange a $3000 business ticket, paid for by your employer, for two $1500 coach tickets, and if the second coach ticket is for your wife for a non-business purpose (i.e., personal use), then you need to report that $1500 as income, and pay tax on it. The NBA didn't mind if the referees exchanged expensive tickets for cheap tickets and pocketed the difference, but the IRS objected when the refs didn't pay tax on the cash they pocketed.