BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey wants to crack down on resale markups and fees for tickets to concerts, sporting games and other live-events with a new proposal that would set limits on third-party resellers.
Healey’s proposal, unveiled on Thursday, would cap resale prices at 110% of a ticket’s original “face value” and restrict resale service fees to 10% of the actual ticket price, which she said is about half what most platforms charge consumers for major concerts and live events.
“It’s infuriating. It’s unfair, and it just costs way too much,” Healey told reporters at a Thursday briefing. “Buying a ticket to a show or a concert shouldn’t feel like winning a lottery ticket.”
The proposal, which will require legislative approval, would also ban the sale of “speculative” tickets for seats that sellers don’t actually have yet.
Healey cited Noah Kahan’s sold-out concerts at Fenway Park last week, where fans complained about paying excessive prices for tickets to the multi-day appearance.
During Thursday’s briefing, Healey picked up a red phone to “talk” to Kahan, who voiced support for the measure in a prerecorded message played on a TV screen.
“Artists alone could not tackle the market manipulation of secondary resellers,” Kahan said. “So, thank you so much for making this a priority in Massachusetts.”
State Sen. Dylan Fernandes, a Falmouth Democrat, recently filed a bill titled “An Act to make Noah Kahan tickets affordable for the rest of us.” He worked with the governor on the bill and said people are being charged 10, sometimes 20 times the face value of a ticket for major events.
“Ticket scalping in America is out of control,” Fernandes said, noting that the artists don’t see the money from third-party ticket sales. “Instead the money flows out of fans pockets and into the hands of billion-dollar private equity backed ticket scalping software companies.”
But the proposal was criticized by the Ticket Policy Forum, a coalition representing secondary ticket marketplaces.
The group said Healey’s bill “ignores and exempts” Ticketmaster-Live Nation, “which continues to push prices up and is the source of the vast majority of tickets for fans in Massachusetts.”
“Exempting Ticketmaster means prices will continue to rise for most ticket sales in the state since the cap would only apply to resale, which represents a small fraction of overall ticket sales,” the group said in a statement. “Exempting Ticketmaster is protection for the illegal monopoly, not fans. Lawmakers should right this wrong immediately and ensure Ticketmaster is included in any new ticketing regulations.”
Healey’s proposal comes as Beacon Hill lawmakers are considering similar proposals to reduce ticket prices and amid nationwide criticism that Ticketmaster and other large companies — along with third-party resellers — are intentionally driving up prices for consumers.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 29 other state attorneys general are pursuing anti-trust claims against Ticketmaster and its parent company for the practice of making their tickets non-transferable.
The policy forum said Healey’s proposal “undercuts” the attorney general’s legal challenge and could jeopardize his efforts to break up the monopoly.
Two years ago, Healey was criticized for putting her signature on a $4 billion economic development bill that included provisions aimed at improving transparency in ticket pricing. At the time, critics said the changes would restrict the ability of ticket holders to use, give away, or sell their tickets.
A coalition of consumer organizations, including the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group and Sports Fans Coalition complained that the wording of the legislation would codify “anti-consumer” ticket sales practices into state law and allow for a monopoly of the live event industry.
Healey said the proposal rolled out Thursday is about “fairness” for consumers hunting for tickets for sporting games, concerts and other live events.
“Is this going to make it so everyone can see their favorite artist when they want and for the price they want? No,” Healey said Thursday. “But it will make it available to way more people.”
Christian M. Wade covers Massachusetts state government and politics for CNHI News and North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.