Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) to Discuss Ticketing Legislation at Ticket Summit

Congressman Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey democrat with a long history of involvement in the regulatory side of ticketing, will be speaking at Ticket Summit in Las Vegas. Mr. Pascrell, who has represented the Garden State in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, will join the Legislative Issues in the Ticketing Industry via video call on 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 18.

He will be discussing upcoming legislation that he plans to propose soon that will directly affect the ticketing business. Following his call, the other panel members – Jason Berger of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, Darnell Goldson of TicketNetwork, Larry Hutcher of Davidoff, Hutcher & Citron, and Chris Libertelli of Vivid Seats – will discuss his announcement as well as other legal issues in the always shifting ticketing world.

“We are very honored to have Congressman Pascrell join our conference,” said Amanda Farrish, Director of Corporate Events for TicketNetwork and Ticket Summit. “Attendees will be very interested to hear what he has in store and how the panelists provide their perspective on his announcement. This session will be a can’t miss highlight of this year’s conference.”

Ticket Summit kicks off on Monday at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, with a schedule full of learning and networking activities through the closing party on Wednesday evening. More information about last-minute registration is available at TicketSummit.org.

Pascrell has long been an advocate for consumer-friendly changes to the ticketing landscape, having vocally opposed the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger as it was being finalized during the early days of the Obama administration. More recently, he penned a scathing Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times regarding his belief that the “worst fears” about the merger having come true in the ensuing years.

That Op-Ed followed a letter to the editor published by the New York Times in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report on the industry. In that letter, he called for the Justice Department to crack down on the industry-dominating promotional and ticketing company, writing “Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s abuse of their monopoly power should be taken as a warning in the halls of the Justice Department. For too long administrations of both parties have been lax in their approaches to antitrust enforcement. Americans are paying the price, as monopolies now sit atop industries across the nation.”

Pascrell currently represents New Jersey’s 9^th Congressional District, which he has been elected to represent since redistricting in 2013. Prior to that, he represented the state’s 8^th Congressional District from 1997 to 2013. His district currently includes his hometown of Patterson as well as parts of Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson Counties. Prior to his election to the U.S. House, he served as a State Assemblyman and Mayor of Patterson.