Earlier this year, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster. Yet today the Mass Leads Act was signed into law in Massachusetts, a bill that ultimately strengthens Ticketmaster’s monopoly.

The Mass Leads Act is an economic development bill with a focus on climate technology, life sciences and AI, but one provision hurts the ticket resale market, increases prices for fans and undermines market competition by allowing ticket sellers to prevent buyers from switching or resell their tickets. Ticket sellers could also limit resale to only the platform on which they purchased the ticket, so that a ticket purchased on Ticketmaster can only be resold through Ticketmaster. In a statement, Chamber Of Progress Senior Director of Technology Policy Todd O’Boyle said:

Massachusetts joined the federal antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation — but now it opens the door for Live Nation to strengthen its monopoly by cutting off ticket transfers. Bay Staters are among the most dedicated sports fans, but this will make it harder for families to support the Red Sox at Fenway. When the Court reconvenes in 2025, they must correct this anti-fan mistake.

According to the Boston spherea coalition of consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to Governor Maura Healey on Tuesday (Nov. 19), stating: “Ticket portability gives consumers control over their tickets after they purchase them, giving fans the ability to compare stores across different marketplaces .”

Statistics show that resale marketplaces often save a significant amount of money for ticket holders. According to Boston.com, a fan advocacy group called Protect Ticket Rights analyzed nearly 200,000 tickets sold in Massachusetts last year for live events on the secondary market and found that concertgoers saved $13.87 million when purchasing on resale markets. A consumer group called the Sports Fans Coalition conducted a similar study and found that fans in the US saved $351 million between 2017 and 2024 by purchasing tickets to sporting events on secondary markets.

UPDATE: Live Nation shared a statement with Stereogum. This is what Dan Wall, Executive Vice President for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, wrote:

Advocates for real estate agents pose as consumer watchdogs. Fighting this bill protects scalpers who profit from buying tickets to the highest bidder. This bill ensures artists and teams have the choice to limit sell-through and protect their fans from paying twice as much to scalpers.

Suggestions that Ticketmaster is buying back tickets to resell them at a profit are patently false.