sports — Case Studies — The Goodfriend Group

… Ready for it? Sports fans know All Too Well with the miserable ticketing process that Ticketmaster puts us through whenever we want to buy tickets to a game. They jack up prices with fees, restrict our right to transfer our tickets and make the general buying process frustrating. On behalf of Sports Fans Coalition, we’ve spent the last several years educating lawmakers and the public about this, and last week our efforts reached a boiling point. Call It What You Want; bad luck, Karma, or unchecked monopoly power run amok, Ticketmaster is no longer Untouchable.

Case StudyBrian HessNovember 21, 2022antitrust, sports, ticketsComment

The Sports Bettors' Bill of Rights

In May 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, releasing the floodgates for the introduction of dangerous sports betting legislation in the states. The sportsbook and casino industries finally had their opportunity to expand nationwide. Sports Fans Coalition witnessed the casino industry's aggressive tactics and knew that the outcome, left unchecked, would be detrimental to fans, consumers, people with gambling addiction problems, and even states seeking revenues from legalized sports betting.

Case StudyBrian HessApril 13, 2021sports, betting, state lobbyingComment

Ending the Sports Blackout Rule

Starting back in 1975, the Federal Communications Commission’s Sports Blackout Rule required cable, and later satellite operators, to black out any game that a local broadcaster in any given market had to black out under league rules. The leagues, especially the NFL, imposed particularly anti-consumer local blackout policies. The NFL said that if a stadium did not sell out a few days prior to kickoff, the local broadcaster had to black out that game. This was designed to force fans to buy more tickets. The FCC’s regulation put the weight of the federal government behind extending the obnoxious league rule to cable and satellite TV providers.