Advocates Call for Correction to Mass Transfer Rules Blunder

Consumer advocates returned to Beacon Hill in Boston this week, urging Massachusetts lawmakers to roll back a year-old law that allows sports teams, concert promoters and venues to block fans from freely transferring their tickets.

The disputed language — tucked into last year’s sweeping economic-development package and signed by Gov. Maura Healey in November 2024 — lets ticket issuers impose transfer bans so long as the restriction is clearly disclosed at checkout. Backers framed it as a way to keep prices down by deterring large-scale resellers. Critics say it hands even more leverage to Live Nation-Ticketmaster, the entertainment giant that already dominates primary ticketing and a growing share of the resale market.

New bill would restore transfer rights

House 320 and Senate 191, filed by Rep. Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow) and Sen. Nick Collins (D-South Boston), would override those limits. The identical bills declare that any paperless ticket “may be sold, given away or otherwise transferred at any price, any time and without additional fees,” effectively guaranteeing an open secondary market. Members of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure took testimony on the proposal Monday.

John Breyault, vice president of public policy at the National Consumers League, called the measure “essential to a fair and transparent marketplace.” Live Nation, he noted, manages more than 400 artists, promotes roughly 60 percent of major U.S. concerts and owns or operates 265-plus North American venues — including Boston’s House of Blues, Paradise Rock Club and the Xfinity Center in Mansfield. “When one company controls the stage, the box office and the resale exchange, fans lose any meaningful choice,” Breyault told lawmakers.

Advocates cite consumer savings

Supporters also pointed to data compiled by the Sports Fans Coalition showing that Massachusetts residents saved about $25.5 million on sports tickets between 2017 and 2024 by buying through competing resale platforms; nationwide, the figure tops $475 million. Coalition executive director Brian Hess warned that those savings evaporate if teams or promoters can mandate that tickets be resold only inside their own apps. “Get sick the day before a game and you’re stuck — out the money and the experience,” he said.

Deirdre Cummings, legislative and consumer programs director at MASSPIRG, echoed that argument. “When you buy concert, sports or theater tickets, you should be able to do whatever you want with them,” she said. “Transferability is both common sense and a cornerstone consumer protection.”

Defenders of current law see anti-scalping benefits

Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover), who helped shepherd last year’s legislation, said the provision simply gives artists and teams another tool to thwart professional scalpers. He pointed to performers such as Taylor Swift, Noah Kahan and Billie Eilish, who have publicly pushed for tighter resale rules so fans don’t face markup “two, three, four times” face value. Finegold emphasized that locked tickets can still be returned to the original platform for a refund or face-value exchange, “so it’s not like you’re stuck with the ticket.”

Ticketmaster did not respond to multiple requests for comment, according to local news coverage of the proposed legislation.

What comes next

The committee did not immediately vote on H 320 / S 191. Even if the bills advance, they face a mid-session clock: formal lawmaking ends July 31. Still, advocates said Monday’s hearing keeps pressure on Beacon Hill to revisit a policy they contend tips the scales too far toward entrenched providers.

“In the last decade Massachusetts has been a leader on consumer protection,” Breyault said outside the hearing room. “Restoring the basic right to transfer a ticket would keep it there — and make sure fans, not monopolies, decide what happens to the seats they’ve already paid for.”