As Britain Bans Scalping, NIVA Pushes for a Similar Victory in the US

NIVA calls for US states to replicate the UK’s new ticket resale price cap policy, as well as ending speculative listings. The association directly refutes StubHub’s claims about speculative ticketing.

Amid the UK’s headline-worthy move to ban the resale of tickets at prices above face value, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is calling on lawmakers in the United States to follow suit. Resale price caps paired with strong enforcement against speculative ticketing, NIVA says, would protect fans, artists, and small businesses from predatory resale practices.

The UK government’s proposed legislation comes just days after StubHub’s third-quarter earnings call, during which executives dismissed concerns about speculative listing as “business as usual.” But according to NIVA, independent venues, festivals, and promoters say the opposite is true.

“StubHub’s CEO could not be more wrong,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA. “Speculative tickets are not ‘business as usual.’ StubHub’s extractive business model is exactly why states across the country should ban speculative tickets and follow the UK and adopt resale price caps. Speculative listings push risk onto fans and independent stages while platforms collect billions.”

“StubHub’s stock plunge after its first investor call shows what we already know: the public is losing trust, legislatures are stepping in, and ticket resale in the United States is on the brink of fundamental structural change. The era of unchecked price gouging and advertising fake tickets is ending, and real accountability is finally on the way.”

NIVA asserts that speculative tickets are “flooding the American market, often appearing before any real on-sale begins.” Such listings can deceive fans, “inflate prices, distort competition, and saddle small businesses with the damage” when fans show up to the venue with fake or unusable tickets.

“Evidence from shows featuring Bonnie Raitt, Beyoncé, Trampled by Turtles, Weird Al Yankovic, Josh Groban, Aimee Mann, Dan Soder, and more […] shows the prevalence of speculative tickets deceiving consumers,” NIVA’s post continues.

“In every case, the reseller is offering something they do not currently have and may never deliver. That leaves fans holding worthless barcodes with no ticket, while independent venues and promoters absorb reputational and operational damage when angry customers show up with tickets that were never valid in the first place.”

“Speculative ticketing turns live events into a gamble that fans never agreed to,” said Parker. “It forces small venues to become the ones delivering the bad news and cleaning up messes created by third-party profiteers. That is not honest commerce, and it is not a healthy free market.”

To that end, NIVA and the Fix the Tix Coalition are currently working to introduce ticket resale price caps and bans on speculative tickets in dozens of states across the U.S. next year. The recent bipartisan passage of a ticket resale price cap in Maine—as well as many other states planning to introduce ticket resale price caps for the 2026 session—shows that ending “price gouging” and speculative ticketing is gaining traction across the country.

NIVA goes on to provide receipts for its claims, offering 23 examples of speculative tickets being sold or listed, with corresponding screenshots. Both NIVA and the Fix the Tix Coalition urge regulators and resale platforms to pass face value and fee resale price caps, ban speculative ticketing full stop, ban the resale of tickets prior to the general on-sale of primary tickets for each show, and require platforms to verify inventory before allowing listings.