Attorney General Phil Weiser sues to protect Colorado fans from Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s deceptive fees, ticket resale tactics

Sept. 18, 2025 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser announced today that Colorado is joining six other states and the Federal Trade Commission in suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for intentionally misleading consumers about the price of concert tickets, enabling ticket brokers to skirt the law, and raking in billions in profits by charging fees multiple times on the same tickets.

“Fans are sick and tired of having a fast one pulled on them every time they want to buy concert tickets,” said Attorney General Phil Weiser. “Ticketmaster has systematically made it harder for consumers to see the artists they love, deceived fans about pricing, let brokers scoop up tickets in bulk, and charged excessive fees multiple times on secondary markets. We are taking action to hold Ticketmaster accountable and ensure fairer access to live entertainment.”

Hidden fees and sticker shock

Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, is the biggest ticket seller in the country, controlling roughly 80% of live concert venues’ primary ticketing and a large share of the secondary ticket market.

Ticketmaster routinely obscured the full cost of tickets until late in the purchasing process, saddling consumers with mandatory fees that could add hundreds of dollars to the price. Internal company records revealed that Ticketmaster knew transparent pricing would reduce sales and even gave one employee an award for proving through product tests that increasing transparency would cost the company millions of dollars.

The company itself referred to this strategy as a “bait and switch,” acknowledging that consumers faced “sticker shock” at checkout.

Making life easier for ticket resellers, harder for consumers

Despite imposing purchase limits at the request of artists, Ticketmaster knowingly allowed professional ticket brokers to bypass these rules through fake accounts, proxy servers, and large-scale coordinated purchases.

Ticket brokers use technological and real-world tactics to acquire large quantities of primary tickets. Some brokers pay dozens or hundreds of people to purchase the maximum number of tickets, while others create multiple accounts and purchase tickets behind proxy internet addresses and fake emails. According to the complaint, “from 2020 to 2024, one broker created, purchased, or otherwise obtained from third parties more than 13,000 Ticketmaster accounts.”

Even after Congress passed the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act in 2016 to curb these practices, Ticketmaster failed to follow the law—turning a “blind eye” and adopting what internal documents described as a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach. Employees who proposed stricter anti-broker measures reported that their efforts were rejected for being “too effective.”

Ticketmaster profited directly from this misconduct, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in fees on resold tickets purchased through its own platforms.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction ordering the companies to end the illegal practices and to pay civil penalties.

“Consumers deserve a fair ticket-buying experience,” said Attorney General Weiser. “We will not allow corporations to exploit fans and disregard the law simply to boost profits.”

Read the lawsuit filed today in U.S. District Court (PDF).

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