Massachusetts just hit the secondary ticket market with a massive nerf, and scalpers are absolutely losing their minds. Governor Maura Healey is pushing the Great Divide Act, which caps resale at 110 percent of the original sticker price and limits platform service fees to a measly 10 percent on top.
The legislation also nukes speculative listings where sellers hawk seats they do not actually possess, and it bans deceptive sites from feeding fans false info about seat availability. StubHub and SeatGeek would feel the squeeze directly.
Noah Kahan, whose album inspired the bill's name, joined via video to hype the move after selling out four straight gigs at Fenway Park. State Senator Dylan Fernandes pointed out that those shows saw resale listings balloon from a $400 top price to as high as $39,000.
Vermont and Maine already passed matching caps, while California and New York have similar proposals brewing. A jury recently found Live Nation and Ticketmaster guilty of running an illegal monopoly, and the FTC is circling the whole ticketing ecosystem.
The legislation also nukes speculative listings where sellers hawk seats they do not actually possess, and it bans deceptive sites from feeding fans false info about seat availability. StubHub and SeatGeek would feel the squeeze directly.
Noah Kahan, whose album inspired the bill's name, joined via video to hype the move after selling out four straight gigs at Fenway Park. State Senator Dylan Fernandes pointed out that those shows saw resale listings balloon from a $400 top price to as high as $39,000.
Vermont and Maine already passed matching caps, while California and New York have similar proposals brewing. A jury recently found Live Nation and Ticketmaster guilty of running an illegal monopoly, and the FTC is circling the whole ticketing ecosystem.
