StubHub Spends $2.6 Million Fighting California's 10% Ticket Resale Cap
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 13
StubHub Spends $2.6 Million Fighting California's 10% Ticket Resale Cap
3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 13
Summary
$2.6 million in April-June lobbying made StubHub California’s second-biggest lobbying spender for the quarter and its highest-ever state lobbying outlay.
The push targets AB 1720, introduced in February, which would cap concert ticket resales at 10% above face value; the bill has already been narrowed to venues with 3,000 capacity or less.
StubHub has spent $3.4 million in California this year, including more than $1 million to the Ticket Policy Forum, which argues the bill would strengthen Live Nation-Ticketmaster by regulating resale but not primary pricing.
Supporters including NIVA, the Future of Music Coalition and Live Nation say a hard cap would curb scalping by stripping brokers of extreme markups, while similar laws have recently passed in Maine, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
The fight lands as scrutiny of StubHub intensifies: House Democrats opened a probe in July, and CEO Eric Baker faced backlash over his ties to a hedge fund that finances ticket brokers.