Fans limited who they can resell concert or sports tickets to thanks to new Massachusetts law

BOSTON – A new Massachusetts law gives companies like Ticketmaster more control over who you can sell sports or concert tickets to if you can’t make it to the game or show.

Buried in the massive Economic Development Bill signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday is a clause allowing these companies to limit who fans can transfer tickets to. Consumer watchdog groups like MASSPIRG disagree with it, saying people should be able to do whatever they want with the tickets that they bought.

Law done to prevent scalping

“I can’t resell it to anybody I want, I can’t give it to my friends or family if I can’t go and so it’s really harming fans,” said Deirdre Cummings of MASSPIRG.

An executive from Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, defended the law, saying the goal is to prevent ticket scalping.

“It’s about whether the professional ticket brokers and the ticket resale sites that support them can use their bots and all their other tactics to grab thousands and thousands of tickets that were meant for real fans and instead put them on resale markets where they’re going to double the price,” said Dan Wall, the vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs for Live Nation.

Limits on how tickets can be resold

The new law requires ticket buyers to sell tickets on the original platform they bought them from, rather than other secondary markets, as long as the company let them know of the policy first.

“Ticketmaster will buy it at a lower face value and then sell it at a higher one,” said Cummings. “And so that’s what keeps the ticket prices elevated.”

Live Nation argued the new law protects artists, sports teams and fans themselves.

“This is not about a person who gets sick and can’t go to a show,” said Wall.