H.B. 3167 is a step in the right direction for Oregon sports fans
Originally published in the Bend Bulletin.
Public advocates are gathering in Salem this week to debate new live event ticketing legislation designed to improve the experience for fans. The bill, H.B. 3167, seeks to improve transparency, protect consumers from monopolies, and crack down on scammers. The ticketing market has been a hassle for too long. This bill will help fix it.
The bill ensures the right to transparency by requiring the total ticket price to be displayed upfront and early in the process. This empowers fans to more easily compare offers and find the best deal. When transparency is combined with transferability, fans get the benefit of increased competition, leading to more sources from which to buy tickets, and ideally, a better range of prices. The bill also protects fans by banning deceptive websites which pretend to be a team or box office when they are not. Fans can decide on their own which way to purchase, but fans deserve to know what they are buying – and from whom.
H.B. 3167 also protects the right to ticket transferability. Transferability doesn’t just establish the ability to shop around for tickets – including for events that are sold out at the box office – it also provides flexibility for fans. If you buy a ticket to a game but can’t make it because of an illness, family emergency, or other issue, you can at least resell the ticket to recoup some of the initial cost. And no matter for how low of a price a ticket resells for, the team, artist, or venue was paid the full initial price. However, industry opposition, aligned with Ticketmaster, is working to remove this vital protection.
Despite what opponents claim about the secondary market, it can generate real savings for fans. Since 2017, fans across the country have saved more than $475 million by buying tickets from secondary markets – on sports alone. While opponents of ticket resale like to claim the secondary marketplace is only for marking up tickets, in reality, tickets are resold for well below their original price quite often – more than a third of the time. For example, since 2017, Trail Blazer fans have saved $3.9 million buying their tickets on the secondary resale market. Generally, Oregonians can find tickets below face value more than half of the time. On average, the savings from each ticket was enough to buy a hot dog and a beer at the game.
H.B. 3167 has the potential to reshape the ticketing landscape in Oregon and make it the most pro-fan state in the country. It answers the growing outcry of fans who have been taken advantage of by harmful ticketing policies advanced by Ticketmaster’s monopoly and their industry allies. Fans deserve competition and transparency; HB 3167 delivers.