Governor Healey unveils Noah Kahan-themed bill to cap ticket resale prices
Governor Maura Healey wants to give ticket resellers like StubHub and SeatGeek a bit of northern attitude.
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The first-termDemocrat said Thursday she is filing a proposal thatwould put guardrails on the ticket resale marketplace in an effort to tamp down on inflated prices for concerts and sporting events.
The so-called “Great Divide Act,” named for New England singer-songwriter Noah Kahan’s latest album, would cap the resale price of concert tickets at 110 percent of the ticket’s original face value, meaning a $100 ticket could not be resold for more than $110.
The proposal would also crack down on service charges that third-party ticket resellers impose, limiting the fees to 10 percent of the total price of the ticket for resale, according to Healey’s office. That means if a ticket is listed on a resale site for $300, the platform cannot charge more than $30 in fees.
Healey announced the legislation, which her office said it intends to tuck into a coming supplemental spending bill, days after Kahan finished off a four-day stretch of concerts at Fenway Park. The proposal would need approval in the state Legislature.
“Far too many Massachusetts residents have experienced the pain of being excited to buy tickets to see their favorite singer or sports team, only to realize that resale prices and fees have driven up the cost to outrageous levels,” Healey said in a statement Thursday.
Healey’s bill would also ban the sale of so-called speculative tickets, which are tickets that the seller doesn’t yet have when they are listed for sale. This became an issue during the FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium, where some fans who purchased tickets through online resale platforms were turned away after discovering the tickets they bought never existed.
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The language largely mirrors a bill filed last month by state Senator Dylan Fernandes, a Falmouth Democrat and former Healey aide, whose bill was called “An Act to Make Noah Kahan Tickets Affordable For The Rest of Us.”
Officials in and have embraced similar changes.
Healey last week declared July 11 “Noah Kahan Day” in the state, writing in the proclamation that his music “reflects the character of our region, our people and our way of life.” Healey and First Lady Joanna Lydgate met Kahan backstage at Fenway to show him the proclamation in person.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted my own day,” he joked.
Skyrocketing ticket costs have been a bipartisan concern, including in Congress. The musician Kid Rock showed up on Capitol Hill earlier this year to testify on capping the price on resale tickets.
In 2024, the Department of Justice and dozens of state attorneys general — including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell — sued concert giant Live Nation over alleged antitrust violations. A federal jury in April found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a monopoly over big concert venues.
In 2025, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on ticket scalping and resale practices.
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