College sports fans in Louisiana may soon have something to cheer about. A bill currently in the state’s House of Representatives would allow ticket resale at higher than face value prices for tickets to college sporting events in the state.
Under current Louisiana law, ticket resale in any form is prohibited, unless the team or venue expressly allows for resale and the seller guarantees the authenticity of the ticket. While the proposed bill, HB 155, would not strike down Louisiana’s current ticket resale policy, it would allow for greater freedom for ticket resale.
The proposed bill would allow for in-person ticket resale of tickets to college sporting events for any amount, so long as the price does not exceed the combined total of the ticket’s face value and the total amount required by the college as a donation to secure the tickets. For example, Louisiana State University (LSU) requires patrons to donate a certain amount to secure season tickets to the school’s home football games. Under the proposed bill, a season ticket holder who wished to sell one of his tickets would be able to at greater than face value, so long as the price did not exceed the sum of the ticket’s face value and the fees the season ticket holder paid to LSU for the right to purchase the season ticket package.
In a statement made to Baton Rouge’s The Advocate, the bill’s primary sponsor Rep. Clif Richardson stressed that the proposed bill was aimed at letting consumers have a chance at recouping their money. “It’s for a lawful person who simply wants to recapture his money,” he said.
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva expressed concerns over the proposed legislation, however, specifically that the legalization of ticket resale could lead to buyers being duped with fake tickets. “Anytime legislation is introduced that would permit tickets to athletic events to be sold above face value, we have great concern for the good of the ticket-buying public,” he wrote to The Advocate.
However, the current language of the bill would retain the provision of the current law which requires any resale to be guaranteed as legitimate, which should work to prevent the ticket fraud Alleva and LSU fear. Despite LSU’s concerns, the university did not object to the bill when it was voted on in committee Monday, April 19. Having passed out of committee, the bill will now move forward to a general vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives.
