Event Ticket Resale Prices to be Capped
Pictured: Taylor Swift at the Era’s Tour
Overview
On 10 January 2025, it was announced that in an attempt to clamp down on organisations that bulk buy tickets to live events and sell them at considerably higher prices, the government will hold a public consultation.
Context
Staggering prices of event tickets have been swirling around over the past few years. Whether Oasis tickets last year cost £200 than advertised due to dynamic pricing, or Coldplay, Taylor Swift or Hamilton tickets being sold out within minutes and resale tickets costing thousands, after years of campaigning from politicians and artists from various industries, the ticket sale crisis has reached a turning point. Via platforms including Viagogo and StubHub, tickets have been resold for up to six times their original costs making them unaffordable for their fans. According to the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, "We are taking action to strengthen consumer protections, stop fans getting ripped off and ensure money spent on tickets goes back into our incredible live events sector, instead of into the pockets of greedy touts."
Content
The government via the Trading Standards and the Competition and Marketing Authority, is proposing several measures to combat the unaffordable price of resale tickets:
To cap resale prices up to a 30% uplift;
To introduce limits on the number of tickets that resellers can buy and resell;
To create laws to enforce ticket resale sites to provide accurate information to customers.
Relevance for the general public
Music, sport, comedy and theatre fans can be reassured to know that following these measures being implemented they will pay substantially less to see their favourite performers.
