Ticket-fee cap, new limit on resale markup proposed

The Senate's point man on consumer issues proposed yesterday a sweeping overhaul of the state's ticket laws, calling for a $12 cap on fees, an easing of restrictions on resale prices, and a 5-cent-per-ticket charge to pay for increased regulation.

The cap on fees imposed by sports and entertainment ticket sellers like Ticketmaster would be the first in the nation, if the bill passes. The bill would also rewrite the state's anti-scalping law to rein in markups by allowing brokers that resell tickets to charge their customers three times the ticket's face value. The current law, which is widely ignored, was passed in 1924 and limits markups to $2 above face value.

The bill is surfacing at a time when ticket issues in Massachusetts have become a hot topic of discussion and the focus of several lawsuits and regulatory complaints. There is widespread consensus that the existing resale law isn't being enforced and isn't effective. The New England Patriots and San Francisco reseller StubHub Inc. have sued each other, both claiming the other is violating the resale law.

Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat who is the chairman of the Legislature 's Consumer Affairs and Professional Licensure Committee, said that his bill is unlikely to pass in its current form, but that there is growing sentiment in the Legislature to address a myriad of ticket issues.

"I guess the question is: How aggressive do you want to be?" he said. "The bureaucratic nightmare is, we don't have sufficient revenues to enforce the laws we have on the books right now."

The debate over ticket regulation has focused mostly on resales, but Morrissey's bill dramatically broadens the discussion to include the initial sale of tickets.

The bill requires all ticket sellers, including professional sports teams and venues like the TD Banknorth Garden and the Citi Performing Arts Center, to obtain state licenses and post $100,000 bonds to cover violations of the law. Fines range from $500 for initial offenses to $5,000 and/or a year in jail for multiple offenses.

The bill restricts the fees ticket sellers can charge, imposing a $12 overall cap on each ticket sold. It also includes a separate cap of $8 on transaction fees, which the bill defines as the cost incurred in making the sale of up to 10 tickets to an individual consumer. Venue fees would be capped at $3. The bill eliminates entirely charges for the electronic delivery of tickets, a service for which Ticketmaster currently charges $2.50.

If, for example, a consumer ordered a $125 ticket delivered via e-mail for Rod Stewart's Feb. 3 concert at the TD Banknorth Garden, it would come with almost $20 in extra fees, including a $14.80 convenience charge, a $2.50 facility fee, and a $2.50 electronic delivery fee. Morrissey's bill would limit the fees to $12.

Ticketmaster, which sells the bulk of tickets on behalf of venues in Massachusetts and across the nation, declined to comment on the legislation while saying it welcomed Morrissey's interest in its business.

John Wentzell , president of the Boston office of Delaware North Cos., which owns the Garden and the Boston Bruins, said he strongly supports any measure that would minimize the "fraudulent, speculative, and unscrupulous business tactics" of ticket resellers. But he said Morrissey's bill, in its current form, does not address those issues.

Officials at the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots declined to comment on the legislation.

Morrissey's proposed 5-cent ticket fee would apply to any ticket sold in Massachusetts, generating enforcement funds for the Department of Public Safety, whose duties would be broadened to include oversight of the law. The agency currently licenses and regulates ticket resellers and acknowledges it has never audited or disciplined a single one.

Morrissey said he didn't know how much money the 5-cent fee would raise, but some ticket industry officials estimated more than 5 million tickets are sold here each year, which would translate into $250,000 in new enforcement revenue.

The proposed change in the law would allow resellers to snare a higher legal markup for their tickets, but not nearly as much as they often get by ignoring the current law. Last summer, for example, Ace Ticket of Boston was selling $23 bleacher seats to a Red Sox-Yankees game for $159, a nearly sevenfold markup. Under Morrissey's proposal, Ace could sell the ticket for $69.

Fines for violating the proposed resale law would double to $1,000 from $500. Jail time for multiple offenses would rise to 2 1/2 years from one year.

The bill also require s websites like eBay and StubHub, where consumers buy and sell tickets in huge numbers, to restrict how many tickets a person could sell for events at a Massachusetts venue to 10 per year. News reports yesterday indicated that eBay is buying StubHub for more than $300 million, a sign of how ticket resales have become a big business.

Jim Holzman , the president of Ace Ticket, said Morrissey's bill is a step in the right direction, but quickly added: "I'm for no limits and consumer protection."

Colman Herman , a Dorchester consumer activist who has sued or filed complaints against a number of ticket resellers under the existing resale law, said Morrissey's bill provides little protection for consumers. He said the senator seemed to be preoccupied with fees totaling $10 to $15 per ticket while allowing resale markups of hundreds of dollars.

"By allowing ticket resellers to charge three times face value, Morrissey is making it legal to rip off consumers," Herman said.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.