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D.C. councilmembers are weighing new legislation aimed at making ticket buying fairer and more affordable for fans. The “Fair Ticket Resale Act” would take direct aim at scalpers, bots, and excessive online fees that have driven up costs for concerts and sporting events across the District. A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday morning. At Capital One Arena, tickets for Tuesday night’s Washington Capitals game start around $36 — but on some third-party resale sites, those same seats are listed for more than $2,000. Councilmember Charles Allen, who introduced the bill, said that kind of price gouging is exactly what he hopes to stop. “It makes everything more expensive, it makes it confusing, it’s annoying,” Allen said. “But you know what else happens — the artist doesn’t see a penny of that markup, the venue doesn’t see a penny of that, and the men and women working backstage don’t see a penny of that.” The proposal would ban ticket-buying bots and fake websites, require clear disclosure of all service fees, and cap resale prices at 10% above face value. SEE ALSO | Local music venues said the legislation could help restore fairness to the ticket market. I.M.P., which operates The Anthem, 9:30 Club, and Merriweather Post Pavilion, said resellers are profiting off fans — not the artists or venues. “Right now we are seeing tickets 5, 10, even 100 times more than face value depending on the popularity of the artist,” said Audrey Fix Schaefer, communications director for I.M.P. “And that’s just people from out of town taking advantage of our fans and our artists’ fans.” Schaefer pointed to a recent Lorde concert, where tickets with a $150 face value were being resold for over $1,300 — and one listing topped $119,000. Still, not everyone is on board. Critics — including some within the live entertainment industry — warn that strict limits could hurt legitimate fans who simply can’t attend a show and want to recover their costs. The public hearing on Wednesday is expected to draw a wide range of testimony from fans, venue operators, and ticketing platforms — as D.C. weighs how to strike the right balance between fair access and a free market for tickets.
