Lawmakers debate fair sale of tickets

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - Theaters, concert, and sporting venues are opposing a bill that centers around event tickets. The venues say the proposal would basically undue the progress that's been made to assure ticket holders got them legitimately.

Everyone around the state knows that the state budget is the biggest issue facing state government, but believe it or not, one of the issues that's attracting some of the fiercest lobbying at the Capitol this session has to do with buying tickets.

Taylor Swift is coming to the XL Center in June and a spokesman there says that tickets were being sold by the secondary ticket market before the concert was even announced. A ticket sold by the XL Center would go for $79, but was going for $700 by secondary ticket sellers. They say that a bill before the General Assembly would simply preserve the flow of tickets to the secondary ticket market and give more power to ticket scalpers.

Vernon-based TicketNetwork has been described as the Amazon for tickets. A worldwide exchange for tickets to concerts, theater, and sporting events, they say the bill is a good deal for consumers.

"This legislation will enforce that your ticket is your property, you're going to be able to trade it to whomever you want, give to whoever you want," Don Vaccaro, C.E.O. TicketNetwork.

Right now, with so-called Paperless Tickets, entertainment venues can turn away people with re-sold tickets.

There's a new technology that was introduced that restricts consumers from transferring entertainment and concert tickets. It's very similar to the way that airlines do it," Vaccaro explained.

The Bushnell Center for the Preforming Arts also opposes this bill. The XL Center says it doesn't really protect the consumer in any manner but provides scalpers with greater access to tickets who, in turn, charge fans outlandish prices.

A spokesman says the bill attempts "to block paperless ticketing when such paperless ticketing technologies were created by the artists to specifically protect fans from paying exorbitant scalper prices. If this bill happens, the acts will bypass Connecticut."

This bill passed the General Law Committee but one of the co-chairs told me today that it's still a 'work in progress' and that he plans to put both sides together next week and try to determine what's really in the best interest of the consumer.