Daily Hampshire Gazette – Consumer groups criticize new ticket transfer law

BOSTON (AP) — Consumer groups fear event-goers in Massachusetts will face “less protections and higher fees” after Gov. Maura Healey signed into law new restrictions on ticket sales and transfers that advocates say will instead contribute to exorbitant markups to be prevented by scalpers.

Healey passed a sweeping economic development bill (H 5100) on Nov. 20 that includes a series of reforms to the sale of tickets to concerts and other popular events here, giving more power to large providers like Ticketmaster.

The new law requires platforms to clearly disclose ticket prices online and prohibits the use of automated ticket purchasing software, often known as “bots.”

It also allows for “theatrical performances, public shows, or public amusements or exhibitions” to limit the transferability of a ticket after purchase, provided the restrictions are “clearly and conspicuously communicated to the consumer prior to sale” and the customer acknowledges receipt of that information .

Deirdre Cummings, director of legislative and consumer programs at MASSPIRG, called that last part “anti-consumer language.”

“When you buy tickets to concerts, sporting events or other events, you should be able to do whatever you want with them – including reselling them or giving them to friends or family. Ticket sellers should have no right to prevent us from transferring our own tickets on our own terms. Requiring event tickets to be transferable is both an important consumer protection and common sense,” Cummings said. “The big winners here are the big ticket sellers, not the sports fans or concertgoers.”

However, proponents of the wording argued that it merely adds transparency to an already existing practice.

Some artists — like Pearl Jam, which performed at Fenway Park in September — are banning the transfer of most tickets to their concerts to ensure fans get access at face value rather than competing with scalpers who would resell tickets at a high markup.

Proponents say the new language on the books introduces clearer disclosure requirements at the time of purchase, but otherwise does not authorize a previously banned practice.

“The only change I see is that if you get a ticket that is non-transferable, it will be better displayed,” said Sen. Barry Finegold, the lead Senate negotiator on the package. He later added: “I don’t see much change in 95 to 99 percent of the way tickets are handled.”

Finegold defended the transferability language as a way to provide greater clarity to buyers and limit scalpers’ ability to resell certain high-demand tickets.

“The real driving force behind this is that there are some acts like Noah Kahan, Taylor Swift and (and) Billie Eilish who don’t want their tickets to be inflated. They want their fans to get the tickets,” he said. “You can sell them back (to the original marketplace), so it’s not like you’re stuck with the ticket, but they want to get away from having the tickets marked two, three, four times.”

Representatives from MASSPIRG, the National Consumers League, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America and the Sports Fan Coalition wrote to Healey asking her to strengthen the ticket transfer language. They argued the proposal would effectively “codify anti-consumer event ticket sales practices into law and further entrench Live Nation Entertainment’s (LNE) monopoly on the live events industry.”

Chamber of Progress, a tech industry association, also unsuccessfully urged Healey to reconsider ticket resale regulations.

“This language allows Live Nation to bury anti-transferability provisions in terms and conditions that fans often quickly click through, eager to purchase tickets to the next big event,” the group said in its own letter last week to Healey. “Worse, Live Nation could use ticket terms and conditions to force buyers to resell tickets exclusively on their own platform, further cementing their monopoly position in the live events ecosystem.”

Todd O’Boyle, the organization’s senior technology director, urged lawmakers to “fix this anti-fan bug” when the 2025-2026 term begins.

Cummings said her only concern is the portability language, not measures requiring price transparency or banning the use of bots.

She added that consumer advocates didn’t raise the alarm before reaching Healey’s desk because they didn’t know about it beforehand. Legislative negotiators introduced the 319-page compromise draft, which differs in some sections from the versions originally approved by the House and Senate, on the evening of November 12th, and the package then received approval on November 14th House of Representatives and Senate.

In their letter to Healey, the consumer groups pointed to an analysis by the Sports Fan Coalition that found Massachusetts fans saved $21 million between 2017 and 2024 by purchasing tickets on secondary markets.

“This is all about the transferability of the tickets, which is the greatest consumer protection.” It has been shown that overall ticket prices go down when the tickets are transferable because consumers have more options about what they do with those tickets want,” Cummings said. “You bought the ticket, you should be able to do whatever you want with the ticket.”

Before Healey signed the bill, activists argued that its wording would conflict with Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s position in an antitrust lawsuit against multiple states and the U.S. Department of Justice that she joined against ticket giant Live Nation.

They said the cases focused in part on “SafeTix,” a technology that prosecutors say prevents the transfer of Live Nation tickets to competing resale platforms.

The consumer groups warned that the ticket resale language in the economic development bill would “weaken the AG’s arguments by suggesting that Massachusetts has tacitly approved these monopolistic practices.”

“By endorsing SafeTix’s restrictive practices through this legislation, Massachusetts would become the first state to enact a policy that effectively encourages LNE’s anticompetitive practices,” they wrote. “This would be a troubling precedent that would undermine General Campbell’s ongoing efforts to curb monopolistic behavior in the industry.”

Finegold said some other states have pursued disclosure requirements regarding ticket non-transferability.

“You have to focus on the precedent and what happened,” he said. “If you talk to a lot of Noah Kahan fans, they were able to go to the shows this summer and not have to pay exorbitant prices.”