Arizona could loosen its ticket resale laws if a new bill is passed, though it has already seen opposition from local NBA basketball and Major League Baseball teams.
The legislation, brought to the House of Commerce last week by Rep. T.J. Schope, would give consumers free rein over their purchased tickets. It would also enforce ticket sellers to offer transferable options.
According to ABC 15, those in support of the bill told lawmakers that primary market giants such as Ticketmaster are able to prevent ticket holders from reselling their tickets on the secondary market by preventing entry if the event-goer’s credit card does not match the card that purchased the tickets.
“Through technology they’re able to restrict how tickets are transferred, given away or resold,” Laura Dooley of StubHub said of the primary marketplaces.
Representatives from NBA team the Phoenix Suns and MLB franchise the Arizona Diamondbacks spoke out against the legislation. The teams stated that if passed, Arizona citizens would be more vulnerable to fraudulent tickets, and it would give scalpers easier access to tickets.
The Diamondbacks said in a statement to ABC 15: “We agree with all of the professional sports teams and entertainment venues in the state in our opposition of this legislation.
“This bill would hurt our fans who can get great tickets at a reasonable price. HB 2560 would cause unintended harm to the Arizona economy and the only party that would benefit from this would be scalpers, who would increase their profits at the expense of our fans.”
The bill will be discussed again in another meeting today (Tuesday).
Image: Keith Allison
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