New York Officials To Meet With Lobbyists on Ticket Resale Law

With the legislative session in its rear view mirror, New York officials are already looking forward to 2018. Ticket resale rights will again be on the docket, and officials from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office will meet later this month with industry representatives to begin work on the subject, according to the NY Daily News.

New York did not make any changes to its existing resale laws in 2017, despite pressure from all sides.

In New York, the existing law was re-authorized without changes, as State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s attempts to codify both good and bad reforms into law failed to gain traction for this legislative session. Schneiderman’s hopes are to require primary market sellers to embrace transparency – letting fans know how many tickets are really even available with the myriad of holdbacks and presales that go out the door – before John Q. Regular fan even has a chance to click a ‘buy me ‘ link. He also wishes to ban speculative ticket sales and require secondary marketplaces to list broker licenses.

Currently, individuals can sell tickets in New York at whatever price the market will bear. That has been the case since anti-resale laws were removed in 2007. Last year, however, a law was passed making the use of “bots” a criminal offense in New York. Schneiderman has been a vocal proponent of consumer legislation since his office examined the live entertainment industry in 2016 and found widespread abuse of consumers.

According to the Daily News, representatives from all sides of the ticket industry will meet with New York officials. Giorgio DeRosa, a long-time lobbyist and the father of one of the governor’s top aides, will represent Ticketmaster. Live Nation, the Broadway League, and re-selling sites like StubHub and TicketNetwork will also be present.

Some expressed displeasure of the fact that the meeting as scheduled excludes elected officials or members of Schneiderman’s office. “Obviously, these people can meet with whoever they like,” Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell told the Daily News. “I would hope any meetings and conversations would include the representatives of those people who feel the system doesn’t work.”

A spokesman for Cuomo’s office says invitations are still going out for the meeting. Last year, the Governor said he would create a task force to develop recommendations for updates to the law. No such step occurred, and Cuomo signed an extension of the existing law last month. The law will expire in 2018 unless extended once again, or replaced.