Swift indeed. Tickets to Taylor Swift's May 8 concert at the i wireless Center in Moline sold out in about 10 minutes Friday morning.

Although arena officials don't keep track of its fastest sellouts, executive director Scott Mullen said it has to be among the swiftest.

"We've had just a handful in the last few years that have sold out in minutes," he said Friday. "With ticket technology, you can sell out 100,000 tickets in a minute."

A six-ticket limit was instituted to keep scalpers and computer-controlled "robots" at bay.

"There was trouble with the Hannah Montana tour (two years ago) where all the brokers were using 'bots to snap up the tickets real quick," Mullen said. "We've fixed a lot of that now. There's a lot more controls so a 'bot can't get the tickets as fast.

"For this show, we think a majority of tickets went to fans, as opposed to brokers."

Sitting in front of a computer connected to the Internet has replaced the long-held concert tradition of camping outside the box office to get tickets.

"It's not just where you line up at the building and the first one in line gets the ticket," Mullen said. "Now, it's on sale and, boom, everybody goes at once."

With Swift's stage configuration, the i wireless Center is expected to hold 10,500 concertgoers.

Mullen said he feels empathy for those who wanted to buy a ticket but could not do so.

"This show was just in huge demand, and fan clubs got the first tickets and then the (tour sponsor) American Express pre-sale, where they could get them ahead of time," he said.

Mullen said that contrary to some Quad-City news media reports earlier in the week, the i wireless Center did not save large blocks of tickets for its sponsors and contributors.

"It's that national sponsor deal with American Express," he said. "It gives value to American Express and they give money for the tour. ... That's dictated by the tour, not by the building."