in effect
This is Executive Order 14254, signed March 31, 2025, an instruction from the President to federal agencies. It directs those agencies to crack down on unfair practices in the live concert and entertainment ticket market, especially ticket scalping and hidden fees. It does not itself create new law; it tells existing agencies how to use the authority they already have.
The order tells the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce competition laws in the ticketing and venue industry, and directs the FTC to rigorously enforce the existing Better Online Ticket Sales Act (15 U.S.C. 45c), including sharing evidence with state officials. The FTC is directed to take action — including proposing new regulations if needed — to require price transparency at every stage of buying a ticket, including resale, and to act against unfair, deceptive, or anti-competitive conduct in the resale market. The Treasury Secretary and Attorney General are told to make sure scalpers comply with tax law. Within 180 days, the Treasury Secretary, Attorney General, and FTC Chairman must jointly submit a report describing what they have done and recommending any further regulations or legislation. The order cites reports of fans paying up to 70 times a ticket’s face value as the problem it targets.
Ticket resellers (“scalpers”) and secondary-market platforms face increased enforcement scrutiny, tax-compliance checks, and possible new price-transparency rules. Ticketing agencies and venues could be examined under competition law. Concertgoers and artists are described in the order as the intended beneficiaries; the named federal agencies (DOJ, FTC, Treasury) carry the workload and reporting duties.