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The popular ticket reseller platform said the proposal wouldn’t lower ticket prices because it didn’t address Ticketmaster’s overwhelming control of the marketplace.
StubHub says Ontario’s proposed price cap on ticket resellers will push fans to shady, black-market scalpers and protects Ticketmaster’s sweeping monopoly that has been blamed for driving up prices.
The Ford government announced on Friday that it would introduce legislation in the coming days to prevent tickets to concerts, sports and other live events for being resold for more than their original cost, including fees, service charges and taxes. This would be coupled with new guarantee requirements to protect against the sale of fake tickets and powers aimed at stopping the use of “unfair service charges and fees.”
Procurement Minister Stephen Crawford said the government is “taking action to help ensure Ontario fans have access to fair resale prices and are not exploited by price gouging when they buy resale tickets for their favourite events.”
“With these new measures, consumers would no longer need to worry about being ripped-off in the ticket resale market, and more families and fans would have the opportunity to see their favourite band or sports team perform live,” he said in a statement.
The move comes months after Premier Doug Ford criticized the high prices charged for tickets to Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff games last fall. They could come into effect before this summer’s FIFA World Cup, where Toronto will host several games.
The Ontario NDP, which called for a similar ban last year, said the proposed legislation is “long overdue,” but noted that Ford halted efforts from the former Liberal government to regulate ticket resellers when he became premier after the 2018 election.
The Liberals proposed a ban on selling tickets that were 50 per cent higher than face value.
“If the Ford government had taken it seriously, Ontarians would have been protected from price-gouging during the recent World Series,” the NDP said in a statement.
“If they’re serious about looking out for Ontario consumers, they’ll make sure there are no loopholes, and strong enforcement mechanisms in place to keep Ontarians’ hard-earned money in their pocket.”
The Ford government promised more details about the legislation in Thursday’s budget.
StubHub, one of the most popular ticket reseller platforms, said the proposal wouldn’t lower ticket prices because it didn’t address Ticketmaster’s overwhelming control of the marketplace.
“Ticketmaster/Live Nation just walked away from an antitrust trial in the U.S. with a slap on the wrist — and its monopoly intact,” said Jack Sterne, StubHub’s head of policy communication, in a statement.
“Now, Ontario wants to reward them by targeting their competition with a bill straight out of Ticketmaster’s playbook Instead of handing the company that brags about ‘robbing [fans] blind’ a win and enacting a policy that hurts fans with 4x more fraud, leaders should focus on real reform that actually reins in Ticketmaster’s prices.”
The Ticket Policy Forum, a coalition of the top U.S. online ticket marketplaces that compete with Ticketmaster, called the move a “terribly flawed proposal will reduce access to tickets for popular events on reliable platforms that come with guarantees and protections.”
In a statement, the group — which includes StubHub, SeatGeek , Vivid Seats, TickPick, StubHub, Gametime, and Event Tickets Center — said the legislation would “fuel fraud and scams on social media sites, and empower Ticketmaster and box offices to increase prices without any oversight.”
“Make no mistake: under this proposal, ticket prices will continue to rise and scams will increase. It’s no surprise Ticketmaster, whose executives bragged about ‘gouging’ fans and ‘robbing them blind,’ supports these policies,” read the statement.
“If Ticketmaster is for price caps, any politician who cares about their constituents must oppose them.”
The group warned that legislation like this leaves a loophole that still allows primary sellers to use ‘dynamic pricing,’ which raises prices for high-demand tickets.
