Massachusetts Legislator Drafts Bill Allowing Ticket Reselling

By Alfred Branch, Jr.

Massachusetts Democratic state Rep. Michael Rodrigues is proposing a new bill to make ticket reselling legal in the Bay State.

The Boston Globe is reporting that Rodrigues, co-chairman of the government’s Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee, wants Massachusetts to fall in line with states such as Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania that have all recently validated ticket resales. . .

Massachusetts staple, the Boston Red Sox, are one of the nation’s most most sought-after tickets at resale, repeatedly landing atop the exclusive ranking by TicketNews of the top sports attractions.
The state is also where the New England Patriots football team is suing StubHub, in part for allegedly reselling some invalidated game tickets.

The proposed law doesn’t set a cap on resales, but requires sellers to either obtain a license or use a state licensed broker. In addition, the proposal mandates that any reseller offer full guarantees should a problem arise or the event in question is cancelled. The current law caps the amount that a reseller can charge for a ticket at less than $5 above face value.