StubHub’s Record Lobbying Push Against California Ticket-Price-Cap Bill

California’s AB 1720, introduced in February by Assemblymember Matt Haney, would cap resale ticket prices at 10 percent above face value. The bill was amended to apply only to venues with 3,000 seats or fewer, sparing larger arenas. StubHub has responded with an unprecedented lobbying effort, spending $2.6 million in California from April to June and a total of $3.4 million this year, making it the state’s second-largest lobbyist spender for the quarter.

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Price-cap proposals have gained traction nationwide. Maine, Vermont and Washington, D.C. have enacted similar limits, and Massachusetts is reviewing a cap law in its supplemental spending bill. Support for AB 1720 comes from the National Independent Venue Association, the Future of Music Coalition, the Music Artist Coalition, and Live Nation Entertainment. Opponents include ticket-resale platforms StubHub, SeatGeek (? $40 k lobbying this year) and Vivid Seats (? $500).

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StubHub funneled over $1 million of its quarterly spend to the Ticket Policy Forum, a coalition representing StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats and TickPick. The coalition has run mail ads urging voters to reject AB 1720, framing it as a Live Nation-Ticketmaster-driven initiative. The bill threatens the core revenue model of secondary-market brokers, whose fees rise with ticket prices.

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• Kevin Erickson, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, calls framing caps as “Ticketmaster-friendly” “dishonest” and calls for reforms on both primary and secondary markets.

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• “We believe that more choice, flexibility, and access put fans first and help everyone get into the events they love,” — Both StubHub

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• “The artist community and fans greatly benefit from limiting ticket scalping,” — Noah Kahan

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• “Today, professional scalpers have turned it into a massive multi-billion-dollar business,” — Matt Haney

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• “They are staring into a future that does not allow them to make millions across the entire sector by price gouging consumers across the country,” — Stephen Parker

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• “Their CEO is not just a platform operator, he’s also funding scalpers,” — Stephen Parker

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• “Exempting Ticketmaster from price controls will not result in lower ticket prices since the illegal monopoly often secretly holds back ticket inventory to create artificial scarcity to support higher prices, and uses dynamic and platinum pricing to arbitrarily raise ticket prices while tickets are on sale,” — Brian Berry, policy forum executive

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• “The behaviors [secondary platforms] have been engaging in and the practices that have become core to their business model are indefensible,” — Music Coalition. Kevin Erickson

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