Legislators hint of push to end ticket scalping law

Members of a key legislative committee yesterday indicated they would craft and approve a bill that would let people resell tickets for much higher prices and possibly for whatever price they wanted.

The two Democratic chairmen of the Legislature's Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee and several of its members said the current antiscalping law, which was passed in 1924 and caps resale prices at $2 above face value plus certain service and business charges, should be scrapped.

"Why are we regulating this to begin with?" asked Representative Michael J. Rodrigues of Westfield , the House chairman of the committee. "We're less concerned about what people pay. Our concern is consumer protection."

Toward the end of the three-hour hearing, Senator Michael W. Morrissey of Quincy said it appeared the committee was leaning toward total deregulation, allowing ticket resellers to charge whatever prices they wanted.

The only opposition came from Dorchester consumer activist Colman Herman , who has sued a Weymouth-based ticket reseller for trying to sell him an $80 Red Sox ticket for $500. He has also filed a complaint with the state against Higs Cityside Inc. of Boston for trying to sell him a $130 Red Sox ticket for $835.

"It's obvious where you're going," the 63-year-old Herman told committee members. He said deregulation, or even allowing ticket resellers to charge three times face value as one bill proposes, would mean only the very rich could attend a Red Sox game.

Prodded by businesses like eBay Inc. and Ticketmaster that are eager to break into the estimated $5 billion resale market, many states have abandoned their ticket resale laws. Only seven states continue to regulate resale prices. New York is expected to deregulate its market this year. Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Illinois have deregulated their ticket market s in recent years.

Thomas Gatzunis , the state commissioner of public safety, who licenses ticket resellers, said the existing Massachusetts law doesn't work.

But Gatzunis warned that if lawmakers push for stricter enforcement it would be very costly in terms of staffing and equipment and may not yield significant results.

"How do we police millions of ticket sales taking place in cyberspace?" he asked.

Gatzunis said he currently has two staff members who spend part of their time monitoring ticket resellers. "It's not one of my highest priorities," he said.

Boston Police Captain William Evans , who oversees the Fenway Park area, said he wanted a law that would make it easier for police to arrest scalpers around the ballpark and tougher penalties for those arrested.

Evans said the police have stepped up enforcement of the antiscalping law in the streets around Fenway Park this season because the department has received a lot of complaints about scalpers and has been criticized in the press for not enforcing the law.

"We were getting beat up pretty bad," he said.

The Red Sox, Boston Celtics, New England Patriots, and Boston Bruins all operate or will soon operate websites that allow ticket holders to resell their tickets at face value.

What's unclear is how eager the teams are to remove the resale price cap and expand their resale business.

The Red Sox and Celtics didn't testify yesterday. The Patriots and Bruins raised concerns about ticket counterfeiting. Only John Wentzell , president of the Boston office of Delaware North Cos., which owns TD Banknorth Garden and the Boston Bruins, indicated he would favor increasing the cap on ticket resales.

"Make it more business viable," he said.

James Holzman , president of Ace Ticket Worldwide Inc. and the head of the Massachusetts Association of Ticket Brokers, said his members support deregulation.

Holzman said his members have agreed to offer a 200 percent price guarantee to customers who receive tickets that don't provide them access to a venue or are not delivered on time. He said members also support increasing their annual licensing fee from $250 to $2,500 to support better regulation.

Jack Christin Jr. , senior regulatory counsel at eBay, said deregulation would lead to more tickets being offered for resale and lower prices overall. He said 4.8 million tickets were sold on eBay in 2006, half of which sold for less than face value.

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