Cap Proposed On Ticket Resale
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- May
- 12
A cap on the resale of tickets to sporting events and shows would be reinstituted under legislation proposed Tuesday by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County.
Brodsky said the lifting of the cap two years ago by New York hasn’t worked. It has led ticket agencies to increase prices and fans getting shut out of events, he said.
“Do we really want a resale system in which the real money and the real economic transactions go to people (middlemen) who have nothing to do with either the creation of the product or its ultimate use?” said Brodsky, who heads the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions.
Before 2007, New York’s ticket-scalping law allowed reselling but capped the markup at 20 percent to 45 percent above face value, depending on the size of the venue.
Lawmakers dropped any cap in 2007, allowing the free market to take over. The current law expires next month.
“When New York state deregulated ticket prices, it appears it’s created a very huge windfall for commercial ticket agents and brokers at the expense of fans and event goers,” said Chuck Bell, programs director of Consumers Union, the Yonkers-based publisher of Consumer Reports.
But ticket brokers said the law has created a larger supply of tickets and lower prices in many cases. Some lawmakers are sponsoring legislation to keep the current law in place.
“The open and free market is the best way obviously for consumers to buy tickets,” said Daniel Pullium, director of government relations for Ticketnetwork, a ticket broker based in Vernon, Conn.
“We always urge consumers to seek out the best method for them on how to purchase tickets.”
Ticketnetwork contends that about 60 percent of concert tickets go unsold nationwide, and 30 percent on average are sold below face value.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 3:32 pm by Joseph Spector.
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This is exactly what needs to happen. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just buy the tickets when the come on sale, instead of ticket resellers buying up all the tickets first.
Wow, the argument from the Ticketnetwork guy makes absolutely no sense at all. The “open and free market” is code for, “this is how I make my money, by ripping off the fans of music and sports.” Please.
“30% of tickets get sold below face value”—wouldn’t that mean that 70% get sold at ripoff prices?