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The Mass Leads Act contains a provision that could give ticket resellers powers to restrict where fans can resell or transfer tickets - or prevent them from doing so altogether A new bill signed into law in Massachusetts has been widely criticised for ultimately strengthening Ticketmaster’s monopoly. The Mass Leads Act is an economic development bill focusing on climate technology, life sciences and AI. However, it has a provision that allows ticket sellers to prevent buyers from transferring or reselling tickets, or restrict them to only reselling on the platform where the ticket was bought. This has been criticised for increasing pricing for fans and undercutting market competition. The bill comes just six months after Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, faced an anti-trust lawsuit from the US Justice Department . The suit alleged that the company’s concert promotion and ticketing operations have undermined competition in the live music industry, leading to unfair market leverage, high transaction fees and flawed customer service. The report claims that since the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the enterprise has gone on to control more than 80 per cent of the market for ticket sales in the US. “Massachusetts joined the federal antitrust suit against Live Nation — but now it’s opening the door for Live Nation to strengthen its monopoly by cutting off the transfer of tickets” said Chamber Of Progress Senior Director Of Technology Policy Todd O’Boyle. “Bay Staters are some of the most dedicated sports fans, but this will make it harder for families to support the Red Sox at Fenway. When the General Court reconvenes in 2025, they should fix this anti-fan mistake.” The Boston Globe reports that a coalition of consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to Governor Maura Healey last week saying, “Ticket transferability gives consumers control of their tickets after they purchase them, empowering fans to comparison shop across different marketplaces.” Ticketmaster. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Statistics show that resale marketplaces often save ticket holders a significant amount of money. According to analysis by fan advocacy organisation Protect Ticket Rights, concertgoers in Massachusetts saved $13.87 million when purchasing on resale marketplaces [via Boston.com ]. The consumer advocacy organisation Sports Fans Coalition did a similar study and found that fans across the US saved $351 million by buying tickets to sporting events through the secondary ticket market between 2017 and 2024. In response, Live Nation issued a statement to Stereogum, in which they said: “Broker advocates are masquerading as consumer watchdogs. Fighting this bill protects scalpers who profit off ransoming tickets to the highest bidder. This bill ensures artists and teams have the choice to cap resale and protect their fans from paying two times as much to scalpers. “Suggestions that Ticketmaster buys back tickets to resell them for profit are unequivocally false.” Ticketmaster’s practices have been the subject of significant controversy for a while now, particularly in relation to the Oasis reunion tour next summer . Despite the pair’s strong anti-tout stance and efforts to curb inflated re-sale prices , fans soon discovered that Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system was in place, which meant that ticket costs increased in response to demand. According to experts, not warning fans prior to the sale may have been a breach of consumer law , and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has also called for a review into dynamic pricing and secondary ticket sites. The controversy pulled back into focus Robert Smith ’s endeavours to keep tickets for The Cure shows affordable for fans . In an email to fans last year, The Cure frontman vowed to keep ticket prices reasonable on the band’s US tour, writing: “The Cure have agreed all ticket prices, and apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets on this tour.” After tickets went on sale, the musician said he was “sickened” by high Ticketmaster fees that were still applied , and subsequently pushed Ticketmaster to give money back for “unduly high” fees . He also asked Ticketmaster to explain why tickets in the promised face value ticket exchange were “weird” and “over priced” . Related Topics Live Music News
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LAS VEGAS — Players Era Festival organizers have done what so many other have tried — bet their fortunes in this city that a big payoff is coming. Such bet are usually bad ones, which is why so many massive casino-resorts have been built on Las Vegas Boulevard. But it doesn't mean the organizers are wrong. They're counting on the minimum of $1 million in guaranteed name, image and likeness money that will go to each of the eight teams competing in the neutral-site tournament that begins Tuesday will create a precedent for other such events. EverWonder Studios CEO Ian Orefice, who co-founded Players with former AND1 CEO Seth Berger, compared this event to last year's inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament that played its semifinals and final in Las Vegas by saying it "did really well to reinvigorate the fan base at the beginning of the year." "We're excited that we're able to really change the paradigm in college basketball on the economics," Orefice said. "But for us, it's about the long term. How do we use the momentum that is launching with the 2024 Players Era Festival and be the catalyst not to change one event, but to change college basketball for the future." Orefice and Berger didn't disclose financial details, but said the event will come close to breaking even this year and that revenue is in eight figures. Orefice said the bulk of the revenue will come from relationships with MGM, TNT Sports and Publicis Sport & Entertainment as well as sponsors that will be announced later. Both organizers said they are so bullish on the tournament's prospects that they already are planning ahead. Money made from this year's event, Orefice said, goes right back into the company. "We're really in this for the long haul," Orefice said. "So we're not looking at it on a one-year basis." Rick Giles is president of the Gazelle Group, which also operates several similar events, including the College Basketball Invitational. He was skeptical the financial numbers would work. Giles said in addition to more than $8 million going to the players, there were other expenses such as the guarantees to the teams. He said he didn't know if the tournament would make up the difference with ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorship money. The top bowl of the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be curtained off. "The math is highly challenging," Giles said. "Attendance and ticket revenues are not going to come anywhere close to covering that. They haven't announced any sponsors that I'm aware of. So it all sort of rests with their media deal with Turner and how much capital they want to commit to it to get these players paid." David Carter, a University of Southern California adjunct professor who also runs the Sports Business Group consultancy, said even if the Players isn't a financial success this year, the question is whether there will be enough interest to move forward. "If there is bandwidth for another tournament and if the TV or the streaming ratings are going to be there and people are going to want to attend and companies are going to want to sponsor, then, yeah, it's probably going to work," Carter said. "But it may take them time to gain that traction." Both founders said they initially were met with skepticism about putting together such an event, especially from teams they were interested in inviting. Houston was the first school to commit, first offering an oral pledge early in the year and then signing a contract in April. That created momentum for others to join, and including the No. 6 Cougars, half the field is ranked. "We have the relationships to operate a great event," Berger said. "We had to get coaches over those hurdles, and once they knew that we were real, schools got on board really quickly." The founders worked with the NCAA to make sure the tournament abided by that organization's rules, so players must appear at ancillary events in order to receive NIL money. Strict pay for play is not allowed, though there are incentives for performance. The champion, for example, will receive $1.5 million in NIL money. Now the pressure is on to pull off the event and not create the kind of headlines that can dog it for years to come. "I think everybody in the marketplace is watching what's going to happen (this) week and, more importantly, what happens afterwards," Giles said. "Do the players get paid on a timely basis? And if they do, that means that Turner or somebody has paid way more than the market dictates? And the question will be: Can that continue?" CREIGHTON: P oint guard Steven Ashworth likely won’t play in the No. 21 Bluejays’ game against San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Ashworth sprained his right ankle late in a loss to Nebraska on Friday and coach Greg McDermott said afterward he didn’t know how long he would be out. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!'Insult' to Ambedkar to be top agenda of special Cong's Belagavi meet
