Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are spearheading an effort to overhaul the county’s deeply flawed and frustrating system for purchasing tickets for live events online.

What You Need To Know

  • A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Texas’ John Cornyn and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, has filed the Fans First Act

  • The bill is intended to overhaul the country’s system for purchasing tickets to live events

  • The bill targets bots and bad actors

  • It is also designed to protect consumers from “fake or dramatically overpriced tickets”

The Fans First Act would increase transparency in ticket sales, protect consumers from fake or dramatically overpriced tickets, and hold bad actors who engage in illegal ticket sale practices accountable, according to a news release from Cornyn’s office.

The bill was also filed by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

According to the Associated Press, when thousands of fans couldn’t get tickets for megastar Taylor Swift’s summer stadium tour last year, some diehards paid upwards of 70 times face value to see their favorite artist in person — an outrage that prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures to better protect consumers.

“The current ticketing system is riddled with problems and doesn’t serve the needs of fans, teams, artists, or venues,” Cornyn wrote. “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.”  

Sports and entertainment fans, the senators said, are getting boxed out by bots, unauthorized sellers and big conglomerates.

The Fans First Act would do the following, senators said:

Ticket sale transparency

Require all live ticket sellers and resellers to disclose the total cost of the ticket and a breakdown of the ticket cost. They would also be required to provide clear terms and conditions and disclose which seat or section they are selling to avoid ticket misrepresentation. They would be required to disclose whether they are the original seller. 

Consumer protection

  • Strengthens the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, prohibiting the use of bots to purchase tickets online.
  • Require ticket sellers and resellers to provide proof of purchase to consumers within 24 hours of purchase.
  • Require ticket sellers and resellers to provide full ticket refunds if the event is canceled.
  • Require a Government Accountability Office study to further analyze the marketplace and make recommendations.

Stopping bad actors

  • Impose civil penalties on resellers who engage in illegal ticket selling practices. Create a website for people to file complaints. Task the Federal Trade commission and state attorneys general with enforcement.
  • Prohibit the sale of a ticket that the seller claims to represent but does not have possession of, known as a speculative or “spec” ticket.
  • Prevent the use of deceptive websites and bad actors masquerading as legitimate sellers.
  • Require reporting of Bots Acts violations from ticketing companies to the FTC and require the FBI to share ticketing violations with the FTC.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.