AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, has introduced legislation aimed at targeting predatory ticketing practices during live sales.
On Thursday, Cornyn – along with Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Peter Welch of Vermont – introduced the Fans First Act, which would help address issues with the current live event ticketing system.
The stated goal of the bill is to increase transparency in ticket sales and protect consumers from fake or drastically overpriced tickets. The bill would also penalize people who partake in illicit ticket sale practices.
"The current ticketing system is riddled with problems and doesn't serve the needs of fans, artists or venues," Cornyn said in a statement. “This legislation would rebuild trust in the ticketing system by cracking down on bots and others who take advantage of consumers through price gouging and other predatory practices and increase price transparency for ticket purchasers.”
The current ticketing system has been widely criticized by fans, communities, sports teams, artists and venues.
One of the nation's premiere ticket retailers, Ticketmaster came under fire in late 2022 when tickets for Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour went on sale to the public. Fans were forced to wait for hours online, while scalpers purchased tickets and subsequently gouged the prices.
In May, Cornyn held a roundtable discussion at the Moody Center, where he heard from fans about their negative experiences with purchasing tickets, which ranged from dealing with bots and scalpers to hidden fees and more.
"What we need to do is make sure the scalpers, the box can't jack up those prices to exorbitant levels. That's really what the problem we're looking at," Cornyn said at the May event.