Protect your Ticket Rights

When Maryland SB539/HB701 was introduced, Sports Fans Coalition immediately recognized the well-intentioned nature of the ticketing consumer protection bill. However, the solutions proposed would have massive unintended consequences that would exacerbate harms to sports fans – including criminalizing a fan reselling their ticket.

Advocates for this bill want to make season ticket holders subject to a misdemeanor fine of $1000 or a year in jail for reselling a sports ticket for even just $1 more than face value than “a comparable ticket” – whatever that means. Sports teams and venues change the price of a ticket depending on supply and demand – a deceptive practice known as dynamic pricing. 

In an attempt to get at bad actors in the ticketing landscape, why are lawmakers making fans suffer under potentially draconian resale cap laws; laws that have largely been repealed elsewhere in the country. Instead they should attack the root cause of the problem – the monopoly that pulls the strings over nearly every venue in Maryland, Live Nation/Ticketmaster. 

It’s time for lawmakers to vote no on SB 539/HB 701.