A plan to limit the amount that brokers or fans could resell their tickets for in Colorado was unanimously defeated Monday, January 26, by a state Senate subcommittee.
Colorado Senate Bill #SB09-071, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Mary Hodge, was killed in the Business, Labor and Technology Committee in part because members believed it went against basic free market rules, according to published reports. In addition, some said it would hurt fans who wanted to resell some of their season tickets to defray costs, among others.
According to the bill’s summary, if passed it would have prohibited “a ticket broker from charging more than the face value of a ticket plus $5 or 25%, whichever is greater,” and authorized “the attorney general or a district attorney to bring an action to forfeit the tickets or the proceeds of the tickets.” In addition, the law would have prohibited “an event sponsor from charging fees greater than 10% of the face value of an event ticket.”
Supporters of the bill believed it would help level the playing field for fans seeking to buy tickets to popular events.
Over the past 18 months, Colorado has grappled with the issue of ticket resale, in light of problems with Colorado Rockies World Series ticket sales and the Hannah Montana ticket controversy.
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Way to go lawmakers! Nice going on shooting this backward thinking proposed legislation down. Hmmm…it just doesn’t make sense. What if they had a law capping the resale of art, or antique items by 25%? So why do it to tickets? Our county was founded on capitalism and free markets. Supply and demand is a basic fundamental in business. If you own a commodity people should legally be able to sell it for what the market will bear. Senator Hodge has an outdated view of this whole process. Check with other states and see what’s happening. Selling above face value is legal in almost every state now…
Look forward, not behind and go chase real criminals!