The Federal Trade Commission has launched a high-profile lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, accusing them of fueling a system that drives up ticket costs and locks out everyday fans.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, has the support of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, all of which joined the FTC’s complaint.
At the heart of the case are allegations that Ticketmaster and Live Nation built their business model on deceptive and unfair practices. Regulators say that the companies mislead buyers with artificially low ticket prices that jump at checkout when hidden fees are added.
The FTC described this tactic as a “bait and switch approach,” noting that customers often end up paying 30 percent or more above the advertised cost. The agency claims the companies have “reaped massive profits by misrepresenting the total cost of tickets to consumers, who pay billions of dollars each year in mandatory fees not reflected in the list cost.”
The lawsuit also takes aim at the companies’ role in enabling scalpers. While artists try to protect fans by capping the number of tickets each buyer can purchase, the FTC says Ticketmaster knowingly permits brokers to bypass those limits.
According to the complaint, scalpers have been allowed to use multiple accounts to secure thousands of tickets for popular events, later reselling them on Ticketmaster’s own secondary platform at much higher prices.
The FTC argues this practice violates the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, adding that Ticketmaster and Live Nation “knowingly allow, and in fact even encourage, brokers to use multiple Ticketmaster accounts to circumvent Ticketmaster’s own security measures and access control Systems.”
Federal regulators also accuse the companies of benefitting financially from the very scalping problem they claim to fight.
The FTC says Ticketmaster profits three times over, when tickets are first sold, when they are listed again on the resale market, and when fans ultimately grab them at inflated costs. From 2019 to 2024 alone, Ticketmaster reportedly collected $3.7 billion in resale fees.
FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson emphasized that the lawsuit is about protecting fans and restoring fairness in the ticketing industry.
“American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us,” he said. “It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show.”
As the largest ticketing company in the United States, Ticketmaster’s influence on live entertainment is unmatched.
The outcome of this case could determine whether fans continue to face soaring costs or if regulators succeed in reshaping the business practices that dominate the concert and sports industries.
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