On September 17, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and seven states – Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia – sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (“BOTS Act”). Additionally, each state Attorney General alleges violation of various state consumer protection laws, including the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Nebraska Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, and Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act.   

The complaint is notable as the first case alleging both violations of the FTC Act and the BOTS Act by a major ticketing platform. The FTC alleges that Ticketmaster (a wholly owned subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment) systematically concealed the total price of tickets by displaying “deceptively low” ticket prices that did not include mandatory fees. Further the FTC alleges violations of the BOTS Act because Ticketmaster failed to stop circumvention of security measures designed to thwart brokers from conduct prohibited by the BOTS Act. 

In its complaint, the FTC claims Ticketmaster displays “deceptively low” ticket prices to consumers in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act by claiming tickets are available within a specific price range that does not reflect the actual price of the tickets.  The price at checkout may be substantially higher due to mandatory fees that can raise the cost to the consumer by 24% to 44%. These fees totaled $6.4 billion from 2019-2024. Further, the FTC argues that Ticketmaster continued this approach of hiding the “all-in” price because internal research showed consumers were less likely to purchase tickets if informed of the true upfront costs.

The FTC also alleges that Ticketmaster deceptively represents the maximum number of tickets that can be purchased for an event. Ticketmaster states that they impose strict ticket limits for individual events, but the FTC alleges that Ticketmaster allows ticket brokers to exceed those ticket limits, often allowing ticket brokers to buy thousands of tickets for a single event.

Finally, the FTC alleges that Ticketmaster violated the BOTS Act by failing to stop ticket brokers from circumventing its security measures. The complaint alleges that an internal review showed that just five brokers controlled 6,345 Ticketmaster accounts and possessed 246,407 concert tickets to 2,594 events. Further the FTC argues that Ticketmaster and Live Nation also offer technological support to brokers through a software platform called TradeDesk, which enables brokers to track and aggregate tickets purchased from multiple Ticketmaster accounts into a single interface for simpler resale management. Conversely, the FTC alleges the companies have declined to deploy technology that would prevent brokers from evading ticket limits. For example, the company in 2021 opted against using third-party identity verification because it was “too effective” and could hurt revenue.

In addition, the FTC argues Ticketmaster had knowledge that ticket buyers were circumventing limitations.  The FTC claims that Ticketmaster “triple dips” on its fee collection, earning revenue from the primary market purchases of brokers and their secondary market resales, and from consumers purchasing secondary market tickets. Further the FTC argues that Ticketmaster earns additional revenue when tickets are sold on their secondary market because they charge consumers who list tickets resale a “seller fee.” The fees for brokers to list tickets are set by agreements between Ticketmaster and the brokers, and Ticketmaster often decreases fees for high-volume brokers, incentivizing them to list more tickets for Ticketmaster to resell on its platform. Defendants have collected $986 million in these resale fees from 2019 through 2024.

If you have any questions concerning the material discussed in this blog post, please contact the members of our Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations practice.

Tags: Consumer Protection, FTC, State Attorneys General
Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Laura Kim Laura Kim

Laura Kim draws upon her experience in senior positions at the Federal Trade Commission to advise clients across industries on complex advertising, privacy, and data security matters. She provides practical compliance advice and represents clients in FTC and State AG investigations. Laura advises…

Laura Kim draws upon her experience in senior positions at the Federal Trade Commission to advise clients across industries on complex advertising, privacy, and data security matters. She provides practical compliance advice and represents clients in FTC and State AG investigations. Laura advises on a wide range of consumer protection issues, including green claims, influencers, native advertising, claim substantiation, Made in USA claims, children’s privacy, subscription auto-renewal marketing, and other digital advertising matters. In addition, Laura actively practices before the NAD, including recent successful resolution of matters for both challengers and advertisers. She is the Chair of Covington’s Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations Group and participates in the firm’s Internet of Things Initiative.

Laura re-joined Covington after a twelve-year tenure at the FTC, where she served as Assistant Director in two divisions of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, as well as Chief of Staff in the Bureau of Consumer Protection and Attorney Advisor to former Chairman William E. Kovacic. She worked on key FTC Rules and Guides such as the Green Guides, Jewelry Guides, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. She supervised these and other rule making proceedings and oversaw dozens of the Commission’s investigations and enforcement actions involving compliance with these rules. Laura also supervised compliance monitoring for companies under federal court or Commission order.

Laura also served as Deputy Chief Enforcement Officer at the U.S. Department of Education, where she helped establish a new Enforcement Office within Federal Student Aid. In this role, she managed investigations of higher education institutions and oversaw issuance of fines and adverse actions for institutions in violation of federal student aid regulations. Laura also supervised the borrower defense to repayment division and the Clery campus safety and security division.

Read more about Laura KimEmail
Show more Show less
Photo of Terrell McSweeny Terrell McSweeny

Terrell McSweeny, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has held senior appointments in the White House, Department of Justice (DOJ), and the U.S. Senate. At the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division, she played key roles on significant antitrust and consumer protection…

Terrell McSweeny, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has held senior appointments in the White House, Department of Justice (DOJ), and the U.S. Senate. At the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division, she played key roles on significant antitrust and consumer protection enforcement matters. She brings to bear deep experience with regulations governing mergers and non-criminal, anti-competitive conduct, as well as issues relating to cybersecurity and privacy facing high-tech, financial, health care, pharmaceutical, automotive, media, and other industries. Terrell is internationally recognized for her work at the intersection of law and policy with cutting edge technologies including Artificial intelligence (“AI”), Digital Health, Fintech, and the Internet of Things (“IoT”). Clients benefit considerably from her extensive relationships with other enforcement agencies around the world.

Prior to joining the Commission, Terrell served as Chief Counsel for Competition Policy and Intergovernmental Relations for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. She joined the Antitrust Division after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President from January 2009 until February 2012, advising President Obama and Vice President Biden on policy in a variety of areas.

Terrell’s government service also includes her work as Senator Joe Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director in the U.S. Senate, where she managed domestic and economic policy development and legislative initiatives, and as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she worked on issues such as criminal justice, innovation, women’s rights, domestic violence, judicial nominations, immigration, and civil rights.

Read more about Terrell McSweenyEmail
Show more Show less
Photo of Analese Bridges Analese Bridges

Analese Bridges is an associate in the firm’s Washington, DC office and a member of the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity and Advertising and Consumer Protection Practice Groups. She represents and advises clients on a range of cybersecurity, data privacy, and consumer protection issues…

Analese Bridges is an associate in the firm’s Washington, DC office and a member of the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity and Advertising and Consumer Protection Practice Groups. She represents and advises clients on a range of cybersecurity, data privacy, and consumer protection issues, including cyber and data security incident response and preparedness, cross-border privacy law, government and internal investigations, and regulatory compliance.

Read more about Analese BridgesEmail
Show more Show less