For Immediate Release

Contact: Karl Howley
khowley@vision360partners.com

Legislation Appears to Leave Millions of Sports and Music Fans Left Out, Carves New Laws for Benefit of a few Venues; Makes it a Crime for Marylanders to Sell their Tickets for More than they Paid 

Washington, D.C. – As the Maryland Senate Finance Committee prepares to consider SB 539 on Tuesday, the coalition members of Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights calls on senators to provide stakeholders with more time to review and propose amendments to the legislation given amendments are only being shared publicly today. This way, there can still be an opportunity to improve the legislation such that it can earn the support of consumer protection advocates versus standing as it does today as a bill supported only by some, but not all, corporations in the live events industry. 

“We are making a plea to Maryland lawmakers to work with us on the best consumer protection law the state can pass to help protect fans and make the market more transparent and less deceptive,” said Brian Hess, Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. “The current proposal is flawed but can be repaired, but to date only industry has been invited to the table. We hope senators will pause, and work with us and improve the bill as we are requesting. Until then, senators should vote no on SB 539,” Hess continued.   

The Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights coalition is pleased to engage in Maryland, in support of its newest coalition partner, Economic Action Maryland. The coalition is opposed to SB 539 and its House companion HB 701 until it: 

• Equitably protects all consumers in Maryland and does not carve-out sports fans and music fans attending concerts at sports venues from the bill’s price transparency requirements intended to expose hidden fees so that all-in, up-front pricing makes it so that the first price Marylanders see advertised is the last price they see at check-out prior to taxes being added.

• Removes the anti-resale restrictions that will make it illegal and punishable with fines if a ticketholder resells their tickets for more than they initially paid. This is important because often prices sold by Ticketmaster and venues fluctuate based on demand so fans can pay different prices for comparable tickets, and because once a consumer purchases a ticket from the venue, artist, team or ticket issuer, it should remain his or her prerogative if they elect to sell their tickets to decide what price they will accept, whether less or more than their original cost. Many season ticket holders and concertgoers, in light of rising ticket costs, sell some of their tickets at a higher price in order to recover some of their investment and to help pay for other tickets.  

• Protects consumer data and removes from the legislation a provision that will require ticket marketplaces to share the data of its Maryland customers to venues, event organizers, and Ticketmaster. This unnecessary transfer of personal information could expose millions of Maryland eventgoers to data breach. This data is not transferred between parties today or in the past and should not be part of any law that passes. In February, Diana Moss, PhD economist and Vice President and Director of Competition Policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, published a piece that referred to consumer data transfer proposals like this one, stating, “[w]hat the data transfer provision does is give Ticketmaster, as the original ticket seller, valuable information that the company will digitally harvest to steer fans back to its own platform for future purchases…any legislative provision where smaller competitors hand over their customers’ sensitive information to Ticketmaster should be dead on arrival.” 

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About the Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights Coalition: The Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights Coalition was founded in February 2023 to serve as a framework for ticketing legislation that can improve the live events ticketing market that serves millions of fans each year. The Bill of Rights features five pillars; The Right to Transferability, The Right to Transparency, The Right to Set the Price, The Right to a Fair Marketplace and The Right to Recourse. Visit us at www.ticketbuyerbillofrights.org. 

The Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights is endorsed by Economic Action Maryland, National Consumers League, Consumer Federation of America, Sports Fans Coalition, Fan Freedom, Protect Ticket Rights, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Public Knowledge, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of California, and the Center for New Liberalism.  

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