Mehaffie, Isaacson Aim to Slash Fees Charged by Ticket Resellers

HARRISBURG – State Reps. Mary Isaacson (D-Philadelphia) and Tom Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) are reaching across the aisle to cut costs for Pennsylvanians who buy event tickets through resellers.

They joined in a plan to introduce legislation that would cap extra fees at 5% for buyers and 5% for sellers, letting eventgoers save money while still allowing ticket resellers to profit.

According to the lawmakers, these fees can be as much as 55% on top of ticket costs. Isaacson cited the upcoming Superbowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs as an example of high ticket fees – some tickets had fees that were nearly $3,000 on top of the actual price of a ticket.

“These extremely high and arbitrary fees cause too many hard-working Pennsylvanians to be priced out of event tickets purchased through resellers,” Isaacson said. “For example, in Philadelphia, we pride ourselves on celebrating our beloved sports and we will cheer on our beloved Eagles in the Superbowl this weekend. These outrageous fees have robbed dedicated fans from the opportunity to support the team in person.”

“Nobody is saying hard-working people can’t buy and sell tickets to events, particularly if they can’t attend those events themselves, but we are saying there needs to be a reasonable limit on the fees an electronic middleman charges the buyers and sellers,” Mehaffie said. 

Isaacson added that while companies deserve to make a profit, it should never be done by charging these fees on hard-working consumers who just want to enjoy a night at a concert or to cheer on their favorite sports teams.

The representatives have circulated a co-sponsorship memo in advance of the bill being formally introduced.