23 hours Ago
Maine sports fans know a thing or two about loyalty. Whether it’s packing Hadlock Field to cheer on the Portland Sea Dogs, braving the cold for a Maine Mariners game, or heading down to Gillette Stadium to watch the Patriots, Mainers show up. But what happens when life throws a curveball? Maybe you catch a nasty cold the day before the game or your kid’s championship soccer match gets scheduled at the same time.
You try to resell your ticket, only to find out that the team has made it impossible to transfer your ticket. Or even worse, they have forced you to use their own resale platform, where they can take an extra cut of your money. That’s not just bad business — it’s a slap in the face to fans.
Brian Hess is executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Ticket transferability is a cornerstone of consumer protection for live events.
When you buy a ticket, it should be yours to do with as you please — whether that means going to the game, giving it to a friend or reselling it on the platform of your choice. But ticketing monopoly Ticketmaster and its allies have other ideas. They impose restrictive transfer rules designed to maximize their own profits, not to help fans.
These rules force consumers to either eat the cost of an unusable ticket or resell it under the team’s terms, where they often charge multiple fees on the same ticket. It’s a blatant cash grab, and Maine should put an end to it. Maine has a chance to step up to the plate.
LD 913 ensures that Sea Dogs fans — and all Maine sports fans — have the right to purchase tickets they can freely transfer without penalties or restrictions. Passing this bill would make Maine one of the most pro-fan states in the country, joining Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Utah and Virginia in protecting consumer rights in ticketing. Transferability is about more than just fan convenience; it’s also about saving money.
An analysis of 43 million resold tickets across the four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) found that ticket transferability has saved fans more than $475 million since 2017. Fans buying on the secondary market paid below face value more than a third of the time, saving an average of $30 per ticket — enough for a hot dog and a beer at just about any stadium. Mainers love their teams.
They show up, they spend their hard-earned money, and they deserve a fair deal. Let’s make sure the tickets they buy belong to them — not the monopolies looking to squeeze every last dime out of their fandom. It’s time to pass LD 913 and keep the power where it belongs: with the fans.
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