Washington, D.C. — Secondary-ticket companies filed suit this week to freeze a District law that would limit how much fans can be charged when concert seats change hands online.
Council members branded the package the RESALE Act after a longer formal title aimed at egregious scalping of live shows. It cleared the council without a dissenting vote and is set to take effect on the first day of 2027. After that date, resale listings for live shows could not climb more than a tenth above face value, automated bulk-buying tools would be barred, and listings would have to display what the ticket originally cost.
SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Gametime and TickPick brought the case. A spokesman for their trade group called the statute unconstitutional, warned it could push sales onto social media with more fraud risk, and argued primary box offices — often run through Ticketmaster — sit outside the new limits. Councilmember Charles Allen, the bill’s sponsor, said the firms simply want to keep taking larger cutoffs from people buying live entertainment.
Allen said District lawyers reviewed the package before passage. Operators behind rooms such as the 9:30 Club backed the caps and said resale markups have squeezed audiences for years.
The platforms want a preliminary order before January. Most seats will still start at venue windows; the lawsuit turns on the ceiling once those seats reappear on reseller sites.
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