On September 18, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), joined by a bipartisan coalition of seven state attorneys general, filed a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment. The legal action, brought in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses the ticketing giant of using a web of illegal and deceptive tactics that have forced American fans to pay more for concerts, sporting events, and other live experiences.
According to the FTC’s official complaint, Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been deceiving both artists and consumers for years. The agency claims the companies advertise lower ticket prices than what fans ultimately pay, only to tack on additional fees as the purchase progresses—a classic “bait-and-switch” maneuver. Moreover, the FTC alleges that Ticketmaster falsely claims to enforce strict limits on the number of tickets an individual can buy. In reality, the agency says, the company actively coordinates with ticket brokers who use fake accounts and sophisticated software to bypass those limits, buying up millions of dollars’ worth of tickets and reselling them at steep markups on Ticketmaster’s own secondary marketplace.
“American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us. It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson declared in a statement on September 18, 2025, as reported by the Associated Press. Ferguson described the lawsuit as “a monumental step” to protect Americans from being “ripped off when they buy tickets to live events.”
The lawsuit’s reach is broad, with the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia joining the federal government in its claims. The FTC’s complaint lists seven specific charges, including deceptive pricing, anti-competitive coordination with brokers, and profiting from sales practices that have drained billions from consumers’ wallets. Ticketmaster, the FTC asserts, controls 80% or more of major U.S. concert venues' primary ticketing—a near-monopoly that has enabled its dominance over both the primary and secondary ticket markets.
The scale of the alleged misconduct is staggering. The FTC says consumers spent more than $82.6 billion buying tickets from Ticketmaster between 2019 and 2024. On top of that, Ticketmaster reportedly earned $3.7 billion in fees from resale tickets alone during that period. The agency claims the company can “triple dip” on fees: once when brokers purchase tickets on the primary market, again when those tickets are resold on Ticketmaster’s secondary market, and a third time when the end consumer buys the ticket. An internal review cited by the FTC found that just five brokers controlled 6,345 Ticketmaster accounts, amassing nearly a quarter of a million tickets to more than 2,500 events.
“In public, Ticketmaster maintains that its business model is at odds with brokers that routinely exceed ticket limits. But in private, Ticketmaster acknowledged that its business model and bottom line benefit from brokers preventing ordinary Americans from purchasing tickets to the shows they want to see at the prices artists set,” the FTC stated, according to reporting by Townsquare Media. A senior Ticketmaster executive even admitted in an internal email that the company “turn[s] a blind eye as a matter of policy” to brokers violating ticket limits, the agency alleges.
For fans, the impact has been all too real. The lawsuit comes after years of mounting frustration over ticket availability and soaring prices for some of the world’s biggest tours, including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Oasis. The debacle surrounding the 2022 ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, in which Ticketmaster’s site was overwhelmed by both fans and broker-operated bots, brought the issue into the national spotlight. Lawmakers grilled Live Nation executives in a 2023 hearing, but meaningful reform remained elusive—until now.
The Biden administration has taken steps to address the problem, implementing a ban on so-called “junk fees” and requiring Ticketmaster to display the full price of a ticket as soon as consumers begin shopping. This rule, which went into effect in May 2025, aims to bring greater transparency to the ticket-buying process. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump also targeted the industry: in March 2025, he signed an executive order directing federal enforcement against unfair practices in the secondary ticketing market and mandating compliance with IRS rules for resellers.
In addition to the action against Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the FTC has pursued other players in the ticketing ecosystem. In August 2025, the agency sued Maryland-based ticket broker Key Investment Group, alleging it had used thousands of fictitious Ticketmaster accounts and other tactics to buy up tickets for major events—including Swift’s tour—only to resell them at inflated prices.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have yet to issue a formal response to the latest lawsuit. However, the companies have previously claimed that their business practices are in line with industry norms and that they are working to crack down on automated bots and unfair broker activity. In 2023, Live Nation publicly committed to showing the entire purchase price up front, but the FTC contends that the company’s actions have not lived up to its promises.
The lawsuit’s outcome could have far-reaching implications for the live entertainment industry. With Ticketmaster’s near-monopoly over major venue ticket sales and its deep entanglement with both artists and promoters, any changes to its business model will ripple through the entire ecosystem. The FTC and state attorneys general are seeking not only to halt the alleged illegal practices but also to impose penalties and require structural reforms that could open the door to greater competition and fairer prices for fans.
As the legal battle unfolds, observers on all sides—fans, artists, promoters, and rival ticketing platforms—will be watching closely. The stakes are high: at the heart of the case is not just the cost of a night out, but the very future of how Americans experience live music, sports, and entertainment. For now, the message from regulators is clear: the days of “turning a blind eye” to unfair ticketing practices may finally be numbered.
