The Price People Pay to Purchase Their Tickets

Ticketmaster president Frederic D. Rosen continues to bemoan the lack of understanding of consumers who chafe from the fees they must pay to purchase tickets to entertainment and sporting events (“A Tangle Over Tickets,” June 9). As in his conversation with our office, Rosen repeatedly speaks of the “service” consumers are being provided. I have other words for a system in which consumers are all but forced to pay charges of 20% to 40% of the face value of a ticket.

I understand the law of supply and demand. Some tickets have traditionally been harder to find because some acts are more popular than others. What has changed is the public’s ability to obtain tickets without cutting in Rosen and his middlemen.

The list of those who don’t understand the terrific “service” Rosen is providing continues to grow: Consumers Union, Consumer Action, Cal-PIRG and hundreds of individuals who contacted our office to support legislation to put a cap on service charges. Although the bill failed, the issue has been joined and will not go away.

LARRY D. MORSE II

Legislative Director

State Sen. Milton Marks

Sacramento