Denver Concertgoer Concerned About Rising Ticket Fees As Congress Takes Up The Issue

DENVER (CBS4) – Coloradans who love concerts and sporting events say the cost of fees that come with those tickets are too much and can often keep them for actually attending because the final price is more than they can afford.

"I'm going to multiple shows every month so I'm looking to buy tickets very frequently," said Madalyn Dunn, a ticket buyer for venues in Denver. "I'm not sure where a lot of the fees go to, but they definitely can add up very quickly over multiple tickets."

Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who represents Colorado's 1st Congressional District, leads the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations panel. The panel looked into deceptive and unfair practices by some online ticket brokers on Wednesday with testimony from industry executives. Ticketmaster, AXS and StubHub were just some of the companies going before the panel not only discussing fees and marketing to customers but also privacy and personal information stored by the brokers.

"You can no longer afford to go to the show, which is a big bummer because Colorado is such a huge state for music," Dunn told CBS4.

She says she goes to shows every other week some months and buys tickets to multiple events at once. She visits a variety of venues and uses multiple brokers to purchase tickets. Dunn says the challenge of knowing the final price after hidden or delayed fees is universal in the industry. While she enjoys avoiding a line outside a box office, she says the cost with buying on her computer or phone takes away some of the appeal.

"They aren't very convenient when you can't afford them," she said of some online fees.

Dunn says all of the fees should be listed upfront and she would like to know more about what those fees cover and what the actual price of the ticket includes. It's a concern especially for a Colorado resident who says the cost of living alone makes her extra cautious about how she spends her money.

"I definitely try to budget for entertainment because I go concerts, like I said, almost every other week," she said. "It's hard to budget the right amount."

Lawmakers and industry executives discussed past legislation as well as a new bill before Congress. The BOTS Act of 2016 makes it illegal for someone to work around security measures to buy a bulk of tickets at once and then sell them at a higher price to individual customers. A new piece of legislation, the BOSS Act, would look at improving transparency and increasing regulation of the industry.

"Colorado is a state for music lovers so I really feel like we should be supported in that," she said. "There shouldn't be so many fees attached to these tickets so we can enjoy the things that Colorado has to offer when it music."

RELATED: Some Coloradans Pay Fewer Ticket Fees By Going To The Box Office In Person