By: Jared Evan

New York City is hoping to pass a law that would make the service fees and charges on tickets to sporting and entertainment events sold on the secondary market more transparent.

The proposed local law, which has overwhelming support on the City Council, will force ticket-selling Web sites such as StubHub and Ticketmaster to come clean on their hefty handling and service fees before patrons click to buy tickets to local venues online, according to an exclusive report by The New York Post.

“Whether it’s a concert or a ballgame, these companies need to stop fleecing fans,” said former hardcore punk-rock guitarist and Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the bill, to The Post. “I think you’ll see how a little transparency can make things more fair for everyone.”

“By requiring sellers to list the all-in price up front, my bill will end the era of bait-and-switch advertising on ticket prices,” Brannan said. “Don’t advertise that tickets are $20 when by the time you’re done paying all sorts of surprise fees they’re actually gonna cost $80.

The added fees for events at places such as Madison Square Garden Yankee Stadium and Broadway theaters can run as high as 30% of the price of the ticket, he said to The New York Post.

The new proposal doesn’t cap how much the big-market ticket companies can charge for additional fees, but Brannan says he hopes the restriction would embarrass the sellers into being more reasonable.

Brannan first pitched the proposal in 2018, but the council wasn’t sold on the idea then — although it now seems to have more than enough backing to make it into law.

The bill comes up for a vote Tuesday and can hit ticket-sellers with fines up to $500 for each violation.

On the flip side, while ticket-reselling is demonized by the media, by musicians and fans; the industry is 100% legal in NY State, licensed resellers pay a $25K bond to resell tickets, and provide thousands of jobs to ticket buyers, who frequent the box offices for tickets.

Sometimes fans will find deals in the re-seller market. If an event is not sold out, and re-sellers are stuck with tickets, the speculators will drop the price on the tickets, below the face value, resulting in savings. The market is purely based on supply and demand.

Traditionally, buying at venue box offices saves money on fees, so resellers take advantage of the savings. Recently MSG, who owns 4 of the most major venues in NYC (Beacon theater, Radio City, The Theater at MSG and MSG), have placed strict limits on ticket resellers, causing the loss of hundreds of ticket runner jobs. MSG has severely limited the amount of tickets one can buy for an induvial event, causing major damage to the totally legal re-selling business.

Box office workers have also seen their hours slashed, as a lot of the foot traffic at in-person box offices comes from box office runners, working for large re-selling operations.

The measure comes out of the council’s Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, and if approved, would amend the city’s administrative code.

Justin Lee Brannan was born October 14, 1978, and, according to his Wikipedia page, is an American politician and musician. He was a founding member of the New York City “hardcore” bands Indecision and Most Precious Blood.