Ticketmaster And Live Nation Are Being Sued For Unfairly Inflating Ticket Prices

The Competition Bureau, a regulatory body that oversees business competition in Canada, is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation over allegations that they are misleading consumers on prices for sports and entertainment tickets.

They discovered that both companies engage in 'drip pricing,' or the advertisement deceptive prices. Consumers are effectively paying much more than they need to for their tickets due to additional fees, which are added later in the purchasing process.

The additional fees inflate the ticket prices by more than 20 per cent, and in some cases over 65 per cent. The Competition Bureau has filed an application with the Competition Tribunal against the two companies to seek an end to 'drip pricing' and other deceptive advertising practices.

"In July, we called on ticket vendors to review their marketing practices," said John Pecman, the Commissioner of Competition. "Today, we are filing an application with the [Competition] Tribunal to stop Ticketmaster from making deceptive claims to consumers."