- Lawmakers are addressing high concert ticket prices in Utah's secondary market.
- FTC mandates upfront pricing and combats bots; Congress advances the TICKET Act.
- Resellers defend practices, but fans face inflated costs, creating a trust gap.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns love their live events, be it sports or music. But not many, if any, love the cost of the tickets. Fans often find themselves having to purchase tickets on the secondary market of ticket resellers, where prices have soared.
Creating scarcity
The Digital Citizens Alliance recently investigated the issues and found fans often pay hundreds to thousands of dollars above original ticket prices on digital secondary markets. In some cases, the investigation found brokers were selling tickets well before many fans had the opportunity to buy.
"They've enabled a group of insiders to work the system and hold tickets for ransom," said Tom Galvin, executive director of the Digital Citizens Alliance. "They're harvesting the tickets, creating scarcity, charging an exorbitant amount of money, and then the platforms charge very significant service fees."
The fight to curb exorbitant prices and fees is not new. Lawmakers have jumped into the fray.
The Federal Trade Commission now requires all ticket sales platforms to show total prices up front — no more hidden fees. The FTC is also cracking down on the use of bots to buy up tickets in bulk.
StubHub was recently warned for violating the new "junk fees" rule.
Meanwhile, Congress is advancing the bipartisan TICKET Act, which would stop people from selling tickets they don't actually have yet.
Resellers respond
The KSL Investigators reached out to two of the largest ticket resellers.
StubHub defends its practices, writing, "nearly 40% of concert tickets on StubHub sold for under $50."
As for prices significantly higher than $50, StubHub told us, "Those are the listings that haven't sold, and often never do."
And SeatGeek writes it uses "cutting-edge technologies" to combat bots. And it told us it has "long been a champion for more pricing transparency."
As for our question regarding higher prices, the company said 55% of its listings "had tickets listed for resale at below face value."
Still, advocates say the secondary ticket market favors profit over people.
"So, in the end, the brokers win, the platforms win, and the loser is the fan who wants to go and see a concert," said Galvin.
Investigations like this, as well as many people's negative experiences, have led to what researchers call a "trust gap." Americans trust primary sellers over secondary resellers by a margin of 10 to 1.
