D.C. Defends Ticket Resale Cap Amid Lawsuit from SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, TickPick & Gametime
Categoria: Musica
Secondary ticketing marketplaces and their trade group, Ticket Policy Forum, are seeking to block the district's newly enacted RESALE Act.
Por Billboard | 10/11/2026
The District of Columbia says it should be allowed to cap concert ticket resale prices in the face of a legal challenge brought by a coalition of secondary marketplace operators. Resale trade group Ticket Policy Forum, along with its members SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, TickPick and Gametime, sued last month to block D.C.’s newly enacted Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Act as unconstitutional. Scheduled to become enforceable in 2027, the RESALE Act limits secondary ticket price markups at 10% above face value. Related D.C. Cracks Down on Ticket Resellers: Council Passes Bill to Protect Fans From Scammers, Inflated Prices Michael Sanft, Attorney Who Represented Keffe D in 2Pac Murder Trial, Dies at 54 Kenny MacPherson, Veteran Music Publisher and Big Deal Music Co-Founder, Dies at 71 The resellers argue that a 10% cap would force them to “operate at a loss” and actually raise consumer prices by driving ticket sales to the black market. They want a judge to issue an immediate injunction barring enforcement of the law. But in a response brief on Monday (Nov. 9), the D.C. Attorney General’s Office says that is both unnecessary and unfair. “The will of the people plus their interests in protecting consumers and a vital, cultural industry far outweigh the pecuniary interests of a handful of corporations,” write the government lawyers. “Plaintiffs include multi-billion-dollar companies that can easily absorb any hypothesized losses from complying with one city’s law while litigation proceeds. Plaintiffs may later be able to recover those losses, but the harms to the district and its people from a preliminary injunction are truly irreparable.” D.C.’s attorneys say their resale cap was properly enacted after residents “became fed up with soaring ticket prices,” and that the bill “sailed through” both local government and congressional approval even as ticket resellers lobbied hard to kill it. “Striking out with the democratic process, Plaintiffs dressed their policy objections up in constitutional garb and turned to this court for a judicial veto,” reads Monday’s response brief. According to D.C., there’s simply no merit to the ticketing companies’ claims that the RESALE Act is unconstitutional. Among other arguments, the resellers have said there’s a First Amendment issue with a portion of the law that requires them to list a ticket’s original, face value cost next to the resale rate. The companies claim this is unlawful “compelled speech” — but D.C. says that argument “strains credulity.” Related California Ticket Resale Cap Bill Fails to Move Forward “The original ticket price is hardly irrelevant to a consumer — without it, the consumer cannot fully understand the value of the resold ticket and make an informed decision about whether to buy it,” write the district’s attorneys. A hearing on the injunction mo