California lawmakers got ticket freebies as they cracked down on Ticketmaster's Taylor Swift debacle

SACRAMENTO, California — Ticketmaster’s troubled handling of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour prompted California lawmakers to spend months cracking down on the ticketing industry — while they enjoyed thousands of dollars worth of free tickets themselves from interest groups, a POLITICO analysis shows.

One assemblymember even appears to have accepted concert tickets to that very Swift tour, which prompted the effort to dismantle ticketing monopolies following backlash over Ticketmaster’s glitch-riddled sales rollout. She was later involved in legislative efforts to regulate the industry that ultimately stalled.

The findings are part of a wider POLITICO analysis of all 120 state lawmakers’ financial disclosures last year that found 66 state assemblymembers and senators received more than $30,000 total worth of tickets. The giveaways included entrance to Disneyland with mouse ears included, a music festival pass to see country music stars like Eric Church, and San Francisco 49ers seats. One of the biggest recipients of tickets to college sporting events also chairs the higher education committee.

The analysis sheds light on a legal and common way deep-pocketed groups lobby lawmakers in the state of California that is home to Hollywood, musical powerhouses, renowned theme parks and high-grossing sports teams. While many lawmakers accept invites to such events as a way to build relationships with important constituents or highlight major players in their districts, the gifts also raise ethics questions about the privileges enjoyed by public servants.

A freebie worth $590 is well below the $5,500 maximum campaign donation from an individual or business. But gifts like tickets can make a much greater impact, said Daniel Schnur, a government ethics expert and former chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission.

“If I send money to a legislator’s campaign account, I get a thank you note. If I attend a reception, I get a handshake. If I take them out to lunch or dinner, I get a conversation,” Schnur said. “But if I get them tickets for a concert or a basketball game, I now have a friend who takes my phone calls.”

The gifts came the same year some lawmakers mounted bids to loosen the power of the ticketing giant Ticketmaster and other elected officials sought to limit third-party resellers like StubHub. Some of the gifts lawmakers accepted in 2023 came from interest groups that had a stake in such legislation, and some lawmakers who received the tickets led new regulation efforts this year.

That includes Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat, who introduced a bill this past April banning exclusive contracts between sellers and venues, hoping to deflate the power of Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation. That bill, which was backed by consumer groups and third-party resellers like StubHub, was ultimately held in Wicks’ own committee after she accepted extensive amendments.

One assemblymember, Democrat Rebecca Bauer-Kahan from the San Francisco Bay Area , played a key role in the legislation’s trajectory. Her committee, Privacy and Consumer Protection, changed Wicks’ bill so drastically that some of the original advocate groups withdrew their support . The committee was concerned that, by eliminating exclusive contracts, the bill would hurt small venues and lead to chaos and confusion for consumers in the secondary market.

Records show that Bauer-Kahan accepted concert tickets from the San Francisco 49ers in July 2023 on the same day Swift’s Eras Tour came to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

Bauer-Kahan’s office would not confirm or deny whether the tickets were for Swift’s concert, but no other events were planned for that day. Bauer-Kahan reported the tickets’ value at $590 — the legal limit for a gift. The football team was one of several sports organizations that opposed Wicks’ bill and in 2023 lobbied on other ticketing legislation.

The concert ticket, along with a roughly $407 gift that included admission to an amusement park, food and drinks, put Bauer-Kahan in the top five assemblymembers for total ticket gifts.

Outside of the gift from the 49ers, a firm led by Bauer-Kahan’s former chief of staff, Jordan Curley, also lobbied against Wicks’ bill this year on behalf of the Music Artists Coalition, whose board members include a former and current Live Nation executive.

Bauer-Kahan did not address her former staffer’s work on the bill. In a statement, the lawmaker said protecting consumers is her top priority, and that there are many players who are impacted by the supply chain, including small businesses and artists.

“The committee will do our best to protect consumers and ensure that we are focusing on all aspects of the market that cause pain points: from the primary market, to the brokers that are gouging consumers, to the secondary market that enables that process,” she said.

Curley did not respond to a request for comment. The Music Artists Coalition declined to comment.

According to POLITICO’s analysis, the San Francisco 49ers were among the top five gifters to lawmakers in 2023. The team gave assemblymembers and senators about $3,500 worth of free tickets to football games, athlete training camp practices and stadium concert tickets.

“Since Levi's Stadium opened ten years ago, we have been proud to showcase our home in Santa Clara,” a spokesperson for the 49ers said in a statement. “We regularly extend invitations to a wide variety of leaders, including elected officials from across the Bay Area, to attend events at the stadium and always within the proper guidelines.”

Wicks herself reported accepting $590 worth of football tickets from the 49ers for a game in November, months before she introduced the bill. She did not comment on whether the 49ers’ gift influenced her decision-making but defended her work on the ticketing issue.

“Standing with our nation’s fiercest consumer groups and taking on a monopoly like Ticketmaster/LiveNation — despite the opposition of many of the sports teams — was something I was proud to do,” Wicks said in a statement.

The push to crack down on ticketing monopolies followed the tumultuous start of Swift’s ongoing Eras Tour in late 2022, when Ticketmaster struggled to keep up with the tsunami of demand, leading to long wait times to buy tickets, skyrocketing prices and disappointed fans. Swift herself said she was “pissed off” about the fiasco.

That led to inquiries from Congress , the U.S. Department of Justice , and California officials, who wanted to improve the ticket-buying experience for fans.

Among the bills introduced in California last year were proposals from Republican state Sen. Scott Wilk and Democratic Assemblymember Laura Friedman, which aimed to inject more competition into the market and loosen rules around ticket transfers. Both bills, like Wicks’, stalled amid fierce industry lobbying.

Wilk was among a group of lawmakers who accepted a $23 ticket from the Walt Disney Co. to attend a screening of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and Friedman was part of another group that attended the opening of the new “Super Nintendo World” at Universal Studios.

Wilk declined to comment. Friedman, in a statement, said Universal is a large employer in her district.

“This opening meant hundreds of jobs for my constituents,” she said. “I was happy to join Universal and my constituents to celebrate this major win for our local economy.”

One industry-backed bill, introduced last year by state Sen. Anna Caballero, is still in play. The Merced Democrat says she’s looking to protect artists’ rights and limit third-party scalping. Her bill made it out of Bauer-Kahan’s committee in July with the support of the 49ers and the Music Artists Coalition. Caballero did not report receiving any tickets in 2023.

Her office declined to comment but emphasized that her legislation creates significant consumer protections.

Assemblymember Mike Fong, chair of the Higher Education Committee, accepted the second-highest total value of tickets in gifts among legislators — about $1,500 — including from UCLA, UC San Diego, San Diego State and the California Federation of Teachers, often to collegiate sports games. He also accepted $124 worth of baseball tickets from former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s campaign committee as well as admission to Universal Studios from the California Attractions and Parks Association.

Fong’s office, in a statement, said he meets with many people including those at higher education institutions and is occasionally invited to attend events — which he reports on his financial disclosure forms.

“The Assemblymember reviews each bill that comes through carefully and makes his decision based on the merits of that bill, including all bills that are referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee,” a spokesperson said.

The lawmaker who received the highest total value of tickets was state Sen. Bill Dodd from Napa. He received Disneyland tickets from the Walt Disney Co. worth $544, San Francisco 49ers tickets worth $590, and Golden State Warriors tickets worth $500.

Other tickets ran the gamut — Assemblymember Megan Dahle received two tickets worth $70 to the Redding Rodeo within her Northern California district. Los Angeles-area lawmakers Chris Holden and Anthony Portantino accepted tickets to watch the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena worth more than $400 each.

Assemblymember Jim Wood, a Healdsburg Democrat who, at the time, was chair of the Health Committee, reported receiving a $150 ticket to NASCAR, courtesy of LIFEwest Ambulance. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas attended the PGA Tour, thanks to a $100 ticket from AT&T.

Each of these lawmakers declined to comment, except for Portantino, whose office said in a statement: “As a representative, ardent advocate and fan, the Senator absolutely annually accepts the invitation to join the greater Pasadena community, its neighbors and leaders to support, appreciate and enjoy the Rose Bowl game and parade both of which are part of the fabric of his district, New Years Day traditions and American treasures.”

The top gifter across the Assembly and Senate was the California Attractions and Parks Association, an umbrella group that represents some of the state’s most famous theme parks, including Legoland and Seaworld.

The group gave at least a dozen lawmakers tickets during the launch of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios — gifts that, in some cases, included parking and meals, with a reported value of $200 to $590 each, per lawmakers’ disclosures. The group’s total spending between the Senate and the Assembly was $5,582 in 2023.

The California Attractions and Parks Association last year also reported lobbying on three ticketing bills, though it never explicitly supported or opposed the bills. The bulk of the lobbying was done after the January trip to Universal, according to state records.

The association’s Executive Director Sabrina Demayo Lockhart said in a statement that CAPA holds events to educate lawmakers about how the industry prioritizes safety, boosts tourism and offers attractive careers.

“To ensure transparency and accountability, CAPA diligently discloses all gifts in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations,” she said.

Methodology

POLITICO analyzed gifts in each lawmaker’s annual financial disclosure for 2023, known as Form 700s. The Fair Political Practices Commission, which tracks and enforces rules around campaign finance, defines gifts as “any payment or other benefit that confers a personal benefit for which a public official does not provide payment or services of equal or greater value.”

The analysis focused on tickets to events that the average voter could be interested in and be able to buy themselves, like to view sports, movies and music.

For listings where the descriptions were ambiguous, POLITICO confirmed the events with the lawmakers or their staff. Each lawmaker mentioned in this story was contacted for response and most declined to comment.