September 18, 2025
The lawsuit alleges Live Nation-Ticketmaster encouraged brokers to buy and sell millions of tickets on the secondary market
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Utah, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a coalition of states filed a lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster for hiding fees and misrepresenting ticket prices. The suit also alleges Ticketmaster encouraged brokers to circumvent the site’s enforcement measures and sell millions of tickets on the secondary market.
The Utah Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protection (DCP) and the Office of the Utah Attorney General (OAG) brought claims under the lawsuit filed Thursday in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
“Anyone who has ever tried buying concert tickets, only to get hit with a pile of sneaky fees at the checkout, or perhaps even find out the show is actually “sold out,” knows how frustrating it is to buy tickets with Ticketmaster or Live Nation. Today Utah says “no more.” It is all too common for fans to get funneled to shady ticket brokers who charge jaw-dropping prices—way beyond what artists ever intended. Ticketmaster’s game of bait-and-switch, cozying up with unscrupulous scalpers, inflates costs and leaves fans frustrated,” said Attorney General Derek Brown. “Today Utah is stepping up, cracking down on these deceptive tactics, to make sure everyone can get seats to their favorite shows without being victimized.”
Utah alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster deceptively displayed low ticket prices to consumers and then added high fees to the prices at checkout. These additional fees averaged from 24% to 44% of the total ticket price.
From 2019 to 2024, consumers throughout the country paid $16.4 billion in mandatory fees to Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster and Live Nation also added mandatory fees to the ticket brokers’ list on the Ticketmaster website.
From 2019 to 2024, Ticketmaster generated over $11 billion in revenue from mandatory fees.
Since at least 2018, Live Nation and Ticketmaster offered to sell and sold millions of secondary market tickets acquired by brokers who circumvented their enforcement measures. Consumers paid hundreds of millions more for these tickets sold on the secondary market than they cost on the primary market.
“Live Nation and Ticketmaster have systematically eroded consumer trust by deliberately misrepresenting ticket costs. By hiding mandatory fees and misleading customers about ticket limits and security measures, they have not only violated consumer protection laws but also undermined the integrity of the ticket purchasing experience,” said Margaret Woolley Busse, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “Our Division of Consumer Protection plays a vital role in ensuring transparency in pricing. We are committed to protecting consumers from deceptive practices and unnecessary fees. We are taking action to hold Live Nation and Ticketmaster accountable and restore fairness in the marketplace.”
The complaint includes multiple counts alleging deceptive and unconscionable sales practices in violation of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act. DCP alleges:
- Live Nation and Ticketmaster misrepresented the true price of tickets to consumers by failing to disclose all mandatory fees until the final stage of the transaction.
- The companies falsely represented that they imposed strict ticket limits for individual events.
- Live Nation and Ticketmaster misrepresented the security measures used to enforce posted event ticket limits or to maintain the integrity of posted online ticket purchasing rules.
The OAG also brought a claim to enforce the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which prohibits the sale of tickets previously purchased in circumvention of measures used to enforce posted ticket-purchase limits or purchasing rules.
This action is the result of the work DCP Director Katherine Hass along with OAG attorneys Douglas Crapo, Marilee Miller, and Stevenson Smith. Florida, Illinois, Virginia, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Colorado are joining Utah and the FTC in this enforcement action.
A copy of the complaint is attached.
