To Prevent the Next Ticketmaster-Style Crisis, Congress Must Pass the TICKETS Before the Bell Act—Sports Fan Alliance
We are in the fourth quarter of the 118th Congress and the clock is ticking fast. There are just a few legislative days left for Congress to pass dozens of bills before this session ends and the next Congress will have to start drafting bills from scratch. One such bill is HR 3950Major Event Ticket Fee Transparency Act (TICKET Act). It would fix problems that have plagued the live events industry for decades. It would require full ticket pricing, ban speculative ticket sales, prohibit scam websites, require refunds for canceled or postponed shows, and require the Federal Trade Commission to report reports on the popularity of bots used to buy tickets.
This bill has been in the works for two years. The Senate Judiciary Committee held the first hearing of the 118th Congress in January 2023, following Ticketmaster’s system failure when tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour went on sale. The hearing highlighted many well-known issues within the industry. Since then, members of Congress have introduced more than a half-dozen ticketing-related bills to address these issues. However, only one bill made it to the top: the TICKET Act (HR 3950).
The bipartisan TICKET Act introduced by Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Gus Bilirakis unanimously passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, received endorsement of virtually every stakeholder in the event directly participating in the policy debate, and subsequently passed the House 388-24 by a larger margin than the most recent continuing resolution received Okay. The TICKET Act is even more popular than funding our government.
Consumer protection groups call bill, “a truly comprehensive reform package.” Recording Academy speak it is “an important step toward improving the concert ticket market. Alliance for Ticket Fairness speak that thing “[b]y empowering consumers, this bill will help deliver a better ticket-buying experience and a healthier marketplace.” And the Fix the Tix Coalition, comprised of independent artists and venues speak The TICKETS Act is “the most comprehensive protection for artists and fans in ticket sales that we have seen in years.”
The bill has widespread support – so why is it stalling in the Senate? Legislative inertia and outdated Senate politics are partly to blame, but monopolistic special interests in the industry are also looking to get the job done, hoping their favorite bills passed, even if those bills did not receive consensus support. If the TICKET Act passes this Congress, fans could see ticket prices to music festivals, baseball games and theater productions as soon as next summer. The bill that could have easily passed in a historically ineffective Congress instead risks becoming a case study in the folly of letting perfect people become villains. enemy of the public interest.
Congress is running out of time to do something good for fans who have endured long enough with confusing shopping experiences, out-of-control fees and deceptive resale practices. The year-end omnibus bill is the final legislative vehicle by which the TICKET Act could reach President Joe Biden’s desk. This may just be the last chance to give fans, venues, artists and consumer advocates what they’ve been asking for for the past two years: a comprehensive consumer protection package for live event participants. The clock is ticking. This bill should be a replacement. It’s time for Congress to put it in the bin.
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