You’ve been there.
You go online the second tickets go on sale. You wait within the queue. You refresh. You do every part proper. And then they’re gone. Minutes later, the identical seats are again on-line for 5 occasions the value.
That’s the second folks really feel it. Not simply frustration, however one thing deeper. Like the system was by no means actually constructed for them. Like entry to a live performance or a ballgame has quietly develop into a privilege reasonably than an inexpensive night time out.
Ontario is stepping again into this struggle. Premier Doug Ford’s authorities is proposing amendments to the 2017 Ticket Sales Act that will cap resale ticket costs at their authentic face worth. The proposal would apply to anybody reselling a ticket and any platform facilitating the change, together with Ticketmaster, StubHub, and SeatGeek. On paper, it feels like an answer. In actuality, it’s extra difficult than that.
Here is why the transfer issues. At its core, that is about entry. When Blue Jays World Series tickets hit 1000’s of {dollars} and Taylor Swift seats go for multiples of their face worth, dwell occasions cease being one thing odd folks can plan round. A cap brings issues nearer to actuality. It provides the common fan a real shot. It additionally respects what artists and groups set out to do within the first place. Ticket costs are set with intention. When resellers seize the upside, that worth doesn’t stream again to the individuals who made the occasion value attending. And these scalpers have put completely nothing into the funding of the careers they’re cashing in on. That’s an issue.
The historical past right here is value realizing. This isn’t a brand new dialog for Ontario. The authentic Liberal authorities launched a 50% resale cap in 2017. Ford’s authorities scrapped it in 2019, with then-minister Bill Walker calling it “unenforceable” and “just a nice soundbite.” That resolution aged poorly. The 2025 Blue Jays World Series uncovered precisely what an unregulated market appears to be like like, with resale costs drawing widespread criticism and Ford himself calling it gouging. Ontario is now following Quebec’s proposed laws and a ban the U.Okay. launched final yr.
But right here is the half politicians don’t all the time say out loud. The market doesn’t sit nonetheless. This is a worldwide, digital market. Tickets transfer throughout platforms, throughout borders, and by way of personal networks that no provincial regulation can simply attain. When caps go into place, exercise doesn’t disappear. It shifts. Group chats, social media, and back-channel offers develop into the brand new market. Fraud danger goes up. Transparency goes down. Fans find yourself navigating an area with fewer protections than the regulated platforms they left behind. A cap will push resellers towards unregulated platforms and drive main ticket costs greater if resale competitors disappears fully.
That final level will get at the actual problem. The scalper isn’t the basis of the issue. The root is provide, demand, and the focus of energy in main ticketing. A small variety of firms management how tickets are offered, the place they go, and at what worth – and the artist has each proper to cost what they suppose the market will bear – that is advantageous. But till that construction adjustments, the stress doesn’t go away. It finds a brand new outlet. So sure, this proposal issues. It alerts that somebody is paying consideration and that pricing odd followers out of dwell occasions isn’t acceptable. Ford’s authorities additionally says it’ll strengthen protections in opposition to pretend tickets and deal with unfair service costs, each of that are lengthy overdue, besides the latter is how platforms and ticketing companies make their cash to run the advanced techniques, in order that’s a gimme.
But this isn’t a silver bullet. It is one transfer in a a lot bigger sport. The followers who go online on the proper second, do every part proper, and nonetheless get shut out deserve higher than a partial repair. They deserve a system that was designed with them in thoughts from the start.
