On December 13th, Sports Fans Coalition, in partnership with the National Consumers League launched the #MonumentalDisaster campaign to oppose the publicly financed move of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals to Alexandria. Nearly 3,000 sports fans signed our petition telling lawmakers to oppose the deal. Shortly thereafter, we partnered with the Coalition to Stop the Arena (STA) to support a powerful, growing grassroots movement to push back against a billionaire, the local political machine, and the Governor.  Continue reading

For decades, broadcast and cable have been the primary way fans engage with their teams. More and more though, that fandom is moving away from the traditional media consumption and to the screens of phones and tablets. While we fans are fixated on the competition on the field, there’s a much higher-stakes competition going on that could reshape how we watch and pay for our favorite games. Continue reading

"Every sports fan loves an underdog story, and today is no exception. Sports Fans Coalition applauds the Virginia General Assembly budget conferees for not including any language regarding the Monumental Sports & Entertainment arena proposal," said Brian Hess, Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. "There were many problems with this proposal, including spending billions in taxpayer funding, poor fan experience regarding traffic, and the myriad of conflicts of interests and questionable foreign sovereign wealth fund investments between Ted Leonsis and Governor Youngkin. Throughout the entire process, Senator Louise Lucas stood as a champion for sports fans across the commonwealth and exemplified unparalleled courage in the face of seemingly impossible odds. We urge the General Assembly to continue rejecting this 'half-baked' proposal." 

When Maryland SB539/HB701 was introduced, Sports Fans Coalition immediately recognized the well-intentioned nature of the ticketing consumer protection bill. However, the solutions proposed would have massive unintended consequences that would exacerbate harms to sports fans – including criminalizing a fan reselling their ticket.  Continue reading

In December of last year, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) surprised all of the Commonwealth with a “half-baked” scheme to bring the Capitals and Wizards, owned by his long-time friend and co-investor, billionaire Ted Leonsis, across the Potomac River and into Virginia. The sweetheart deal included a record-setting $1.4 billion in taxpayer subsidies.     Between the bogus economic analyses, laughable traffic mitigation plans, and a plethora of political mistakes, the glaring threat to American professional sports was overlooked – the influence foreign money plays in our politics and our fandoms.  Continue reading

Sports Fans Coalition Executive Director Brian Hess issued the following statement in advance of the Chiefs vs Dolphins game streaming on Comcast/NBC-Universal’s Peacock app: Continue reading

Today, lawmakers and Monumental Sports announced a stadium deal to bring the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards to Potomac Yard, Alexandria. This deal would be a MONUMENTAL disaster for Virginia taxpayers. If you agree, sign the following open letter to Virginia lawmakers and tell them to vote no on the deal. Continue reading

By a 45-0 vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to pass the TICKET Act, as amended. In committee the bill was merged with the STOP Act. Now the bill represents a consensus package that will significantly reform the live event ticketing marketplace.  Continue reading

Ticket transferability is one of the most important consumer protections for fans of live events. It is one of the pillars of the Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights, for which Sports Fans Coalition advocates. Fans often have to buy a ticket to an event months in advance, and sometimes life has other plans. This is especially true of fans who invest in season tickets and are holding many tickets for a sports season. If a fan can’t attend the event, they should be able to resell their ticket to make up any losses they may face. However, there’s another important element to fan resale – consumer savings. Continue reading

Last night, in dealing a victory in the name of consumer protection, Colorado Governor Jared Polis vetoed SB23-060. Though it included some good provisions, this legislation would have given permission to live event ticketing giants Ticketmaster and AXS to deceive consumers when tickets go on sale by creating fake scarcity, and turning a blind eye to illegal software bots that scoop up tickets before humans can instead of reporting their usage to law enforcement. It also contained a loophole that could have handed Ticketmaster, AXS and event venues the ability to cancel, revoke, or otherwise invalidate tickets they already sold for various reasons - a unique power in the market that other ticketing companies argue could harm consumers by making them fearful to buy tickets from another ticketing company even if they find better tickets at a lower price.   Continue reading