Live Nation and Ticketmaster Call FTC Lawsuit ‘Egregious Overreach,’ Request Dismissal

Legal representatives for Live Nation and its ticketing subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have petitioned a court to throw out a significant lawsuit filed by federal and state regulators. In a motion submitted on January 6, the companies label the case an "egregious instance of agency overreach," arguing that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is misapplying a key anti-scalping law. The suit, originally launched in September by the FTC and seven state attorneys general, centers on alleged violations of the 2016 Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which bans automated software from evading ticket purchase limits.

The regulators' central claim is that the companies enabled scalpers by allowing ticket purchases that breached advertised limits, thus facilitating resale at inflated prices. In their defense, Live Nation and Ticketmaster's filing contends the BOTS Act was crafted to assist primary ticket sellers—not to be used against them for operating a resale marketplace. "This statute is designed to help ticket issuers like Ticketmaster combat ticket harvesting and scalping," the motion states, emphasizing that the platform merely acts as an intermediary for person-to-person resales and does not itself function as a reseller. Applying the law in this manner, they argue, would be an unprecedented judicial expansion.

The filing provides a candid look at the persistent technological battle against scalpers, detailing how brokers create thousands of accounts to bypass per-account limits and use specialized software to manage them simultaneously. This activity sustains a multibillion-dollar secondary market. As Dr. Elena Vance, a professor of digital marketplace regulation at Stanford University, observed, "The BOTS Act was a legislative response to a specific technological problem, but its enforcement against platform infrastructure rather than individual bad actors creates a novel legal test. The outcome could redefine accountability in digital marketplaces." The motion acknowledges these challenges while distancing the company from direct responsibility for third-party actions.

This FTC action is just one front in Live Nation's extensive legal battles. The company is simultaneously fighting a major antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleges it maintains an illegal monopoly over live events. Live Nation, formed by the controversial 2010 merger of the world's largest concert promoter and the dominant ticketing service, holds unparalleled influence across promotion, venue operation, and ticket sales. Its stock performance has been volatile amid these pressures, spiking notably after the November 2024 election—a move company CFO Joe Berchtold linked to anticipated regulatory shifts.

The political dimension is further underscored by recent governance changes. In May of last year, Live Nation appointed Richard Grenell, a former U.S. Ambassador and Trump administration official, to its board. Grenell, who currently serves as the overseeing director for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—a role that has involved contentious rebranding efforts and performance cancellations—joined shortly after a March 2024 Executive Order urged stricter BOTS Act enforcement. A hearing on the motion to dismiss the FTC's case is set for February 19, a decision that will signal the lawsuit's viability and shape the ongoing scrutiny of the live events giant.