"people have a visceral negative reaction to arbitrageurs"

I think you're right that people have a visceral reaction to people they perceive as arbitrageurs

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like arbitrageurs in nearly every domain where they exist, they "earn" their profits by providing liquidity and handling risk

I don't think the model where ticket sellers are leaving profits on the table for fear of seeming greedy makes much sense

the model that makes better sense (to me at least) is that they want to set a price where the tickets clear earlier than 5 minutes before the show

(also, like all endeavors where you're setting a price, its hard to precisely predict demand)

the difficulty setting a price, and the preference for early sellout, create an opportunity for scalpers who are willing to buy the risk that they won't be able to selling the tickets for more than they bought them for

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also venues make money off non ticket revenues, so they price the tickets at price that maximizes the profits from ticket revenue + plus other revenue streams (concession, parking, etc),

so they will price it lower than scalpers, who don't have access to non ticket revenue, so they're pricing to maximize just ticket revenue