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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 4, 2014 10:13 AM |
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| From: | Representative J.P. Miranda |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Prohibiting Sports Teams from Imposing Residency Requirements as a Condition of Purchasing Tickets |
| In the near future I plan to introduce a legislative package that addresses professional sports teams who prevent consumers from purchasing sporting event tickets based on consumers’ place of residency. Currently, the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball franchise prohibits Philadelphia residents from purchasing tickets to games at Nationals Park, the Washington Nationals’ stadium. As such, the ticketing policy effectively deters Philadelphia Phillies fans from attending away games at Nationals Park. More recently, in the National Football League, the Conference Champion teams—the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos—both implemented policies that prohibited San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots fans from purchasing tickets to the respective conference championship games. The Conference Champion teams achieved this goal by limiting the sale of tickets only to individuals who lived in regions surrounding Seattle and Denver. I believe that restricting ticket sales to consumers within a geographic region and prohibiting the sale of tickets to consumers who live in specified geographic regions are unfair trade practices. And, while Pennsylvania cannot enact a law to prevent the Nationals or any other out-of-state professional sports team from imposing such ticket sales policies, the Commonwealth should be a leader by setting an example against the geographic discrimination of consumers. That is why I am introducing legislation and a resolution to help bring attention to this matter. First, my bill would amend the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act to prohibit Pennsylvania’s professional and semiprofessional sports franchises, stadium owners and operators, and ticket sales companies from imposing residency requirements on consumers as a condition of purchasing tickets. Secondly, my resolution, would urge Congress to review professional sports organizations’ ticket sales policies and encourage Congress to ban geographically discriminating ticket sales policies at professional sporting events nationwide. It is my hope that we can encourage other states to prohibit ticket sales practices that discriminate against consumers based on residency. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislative package. |
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Introduced as HR985