Letter to House E&C: Boss and Swift Act 2026
July 21, 2026
The Honorable Frank Pallone, Jr.
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
2323 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Brett Guthrie
Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
**Re: Small Businesses and Nonprofits Oppose The BOSS and SWIFT Act Discussion Draft**
Dear Chairman Guthrie and Ranking Member Pallone:
On behalf of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the independent live entertainment venues, promoters, and festivals that anchor main streets in every state and nearly every congressional district, I urge the Committee to reject the BOSS and SWIFT Act Discussion Draft.
Our members support legislation that truly safeguards consumers from price gouging, fake tickets, and the deceptive practices of secondary sellers. This draft does the opposite. It hands scalpers and the resale platforms they feed a federal permission slip to continue harming fans, and it strips venues and artists of the many tools we use to keep face value tickets in the hands of real fans.
The timing could hardly be worse. America just finished hosting the FIFA World Cup, and fans lived through what speculative listings and unchecked resale do to a once-in-a-lifetime event. This draft would cement that chaos into federal law and extend it to every concert, comedy show, theater, and community stage in the country.
Rather than banning speculative ticketing, like nearly a dozen state jurisdictions, the BOSS and SWIFT Act legalizes them. Speculative tickets, also known as "ghost tickets," are listed and sold by resellers who never actually possess them, meaning fans will continue to pay real money for seats that may never exist.
BOSS and SWIFT then disarms the small businesses who actually fight ticket bots. It prohibits venues and artists from deploying anti-bot and anti-scalping measures on our own tickets, subjects them to FTC penalties exceeding $50,000 for doing so, and gives scalpers a chance to sue them for protecting real fans.
BOSS and SWIFT bars artists from preserving last-minute tickets for fans at face value, outlaws artist-run face-value exchanges while letting resellers list anywhere they choose, and prohibits venues and artists from selling any new tickets at face value in the final week before a show. That last restriction would hand the most valuable window in ticketing to StubHub and Vivid Seats outright.
What the BOSS and SWIFT Act omits says just as much. Its definitions section never defines an artist or a small business; the rights it enumerates belong to scalpers. There is no price gouging protection, no resale price cap, no requirement that resale platforms disclose in their advertising that they are resale marketplaces, and no accountability when those platforms fail to deliver tickets.
Versions of this legislation have been introduced in every Congress for more than a decade, and in every Congress they have been opposed by the artists, crews, and independent stages who pour their blood, sweat, and tears into shows that create lifelong memories for fans.
We share your goal of a ticketing marketplace that protects consumers. Real reform looks like all-in transparent pricing, a nationwide ban on speculative tickets, protection from price gouging, genuine BOTS Act enforcement, and the right of fans to resell at face value. NIVA stands ready to work with both of you, in bipartisan fashion, to deliver it. We respectfully urge you to set this draft aside and begin again, while talking to the artists, fans, venues, and festivals that actually put on shows for your constituents.
Respectfully,
Stephen Parker
Executive Director
National Independent Venue Association
ABOUT NIVA
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is the national trade association representing thousands of independent live entertainment venues, festivals, promoters, and more. NIVA works to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of live entertainment. NIVA empowers members and their teams with member benefits, advocacy on the state, local, and federal levels, an annual industry-leading conference, and more.
NIVA led the Save Our Stages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the largest arts investment in U.S. history.
NIVA is committed to equity in its support of independent stages. It seeks to create and encourage opportunities for venues, promoters, and festivals owned, operated, and staffed by people of color, women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities.
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