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Theater patrons, sports fans and concertgoers are on lawmakers’ minds this session.
After reading about Amy Hoffman’s class action lawsuit against StubHub’s alleged failure to refund bogus Wicked tickets, state Rep. Pam Marsh (D–Ashland) informed WW that her office is introducing legislation that seeks to bring more transparency to event ticketing, stronger requirements for ticket sellers to prove legitimacy and availability, and to pave the way for wronged consumers to seek legal redress.
Marsh introduced House Bill 3167 alongside Reps. Rob Nosse, Kevin Mannix and Ben Bowman for the upcoming legislative session. (They’re calling it the Fan Fairness & Transparency Act.) HB 3167 would require more transparent pricing with fees introduced up front. It would also prohibit deceptive marketing and speculative ticketing in which a platform might sell tickets it can’t prove are real or which it doesn’t physically possess. The bill would allow the Oregon Department of Justice to crack down on resellers who violate those rules, and also empower customers to sue resellers under the Unfair Trade Prices Act.
Marsh, who represents the Southern Oregon theatrical stronghold of Ashland (home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival), told WW the bill is inspired by a member of her staff who had a similarly unpleasant experience as Hoffman’s. Marsh’s staffer, named Paige, purchased three tickets for $75 through a third-party platform to see a regional production of The Little Mermaid with her granddaughter at Medford’s Craterian Theater. The website Paige reportedly used advertised that tickets were limited, but after spending $225, she checked the Craterian’s website to find plenty of $25 tickets available.
“They went to the show, the granddaughter was delighted, and the show achieved the goal of exposing the kiddo to live theater,” Marsh wrote via email. “Were it not for the fact that Paige spent $150 more than she needed to for tickets, it would have been a complete happy ending. That experience is what motivated us to start looking at efforts across the country to protect consumers from rogue players in the secondary ticket market industry.”
Marsh says Paige was told a similar story by Craterian staffers in Medford that Hoffman heard at the Keller Auditorium in Portland for Wicked: Scams happen all the time, but someone needs to pass a law for anything to change.
“It was pretty copacetic that Paige knew where to go to get a bill,” Rep. Marsh said.
HB 3167 awaits a hearing date from the House Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.