All-In Ticket Pricing Is a Federal Rule Now. What It Changes for a Florida Festival

On April 9, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced that StubHub Holdings had agreed to pay $10 million to fund refunds for ticket buyers, settling allegations that the company advertised live event ticket prices without clearly disclosing what buyers would actually pay. The window of conduct the agency described was unusually short. It covered purchases made between May 12 and May 14, 2025. May 12, 2025 is the day the FTC rule on unfair or deceptive fees took effect.

We are a festival that will sell tickets under that rule, which is a reason to read it closely and also a reason to say up front that we are not a neutral party. What follows tries to separate three things usually discussed as one: what the federal rule requires, what Florida law requires, and what either does to the number at the bottom of a receipt.

What the Fees Rule Actually Requires

The commission issued the rule on December 17, 2024. It was published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2025, at 90 FR 2066, and took effect on May 12, 2025. It reaches two industries rather than the whole economy: live event tickets and short term lodging.

The core obligation is about display. A seller advertising a live event ticket price has to disclose the total price clearly, conspicuously and prominently, and cannot present that total less prominently than other pricing information on the screen. Before the purchase is completed, the seller also has to disclose the nature and purpose of any charge left out of that total, such as government taxes or shipping, along with the final amount due. What the rule does not do is set the price: it caps no fee and governs only what the advertised number must include.

Florida Regulates Tickets at a Different Point

Florida does have a ticket statute, but it works further down the chain. Section 817.36 of the Florida Statutes is largely a resale provision. It limits certain resales to one dollar above the original admission price, a category covering passage or accommodations on common carriers, multiday or multievent park and entertainment tickets, and qualifying charity event tickets. It also puts duties on online resellers, who must guarantee a full refund including servicing, handling and processing fees if an event is canceled or a ticket is not delivered as requested, and must disclose that they are not the issuer or original seller and do not control pricing.

What we did not find in that section is any general rule for how prices and fees must be displayed when a ticket is first offered. A Congressional Research Service report updated on April 22, 2026 identifies Connecticut, Georgia and New York as states requiring the total price at first display, and does not identify Florida among them. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. The narrower point we can support is that the display standard a Florida buyer meets appears to come from the federal rule rather than from state law.

How Large Are the Fees, Actually

Current figures are harder to come by than the volume of debate suggests, and the most quoted measurements are old. A 2018 Government Accountability Office study found fees on 31 events across five primary sellers ranging from 13 percent to 58 percent of the base ticket price, averaging 27 percent, with secondary market fees across 11 sellers averaging 31 percent.

For something closer to the present, the Congressional Research Service calculated from Live Nation’s annual report that Ticketmaster averaged about $8.91 in revenue per fee bearing ticket in 2025. Those percentages are snapshots of particular samples rather than a current national average. Fees vary by venue, configuration, platform and deal structure, and the 2018 figures predate the rule this article is about.

The Strongest Case Against All-In Pricing

There is a serious argument on the other side, and it is not simply a defense of hidden charges. Disclosure does not reduce what anyone pays. A ticket shown at ninety two dollars instead of seventy two dollars plus fees is the same ticket, and one possible consequence is that more fans walk away from a number that looks higher even though nothing about the cost changed. Sellers who adopted all-in pricing voluntarily before the rule ran into that problem whenever a competitor kept breaking the price out, which is itself an argument for a uniform standard applied to everyone at once.

A second argument is that one combined number can hide useful information. A fan who sees a single total learns less about which share goes to the venue, the platform, the city and the performer. The rule’s answer is to require the breakdown before checkout rather than in the first advertised figure, a compromise rather than a clean win for either view. Both arguments point at the same open question, which is durability. A trade regulation rule can be revised by a future commission, while the TICKET Act would place all-in pricing in statute. The House passed H.R. 1402 in the 119th Congress and the Senate Commerce Committee reported an amended companion, S. 281. The April 2026 research summary we reviewed records no Senate floor passage or enactment.

Our Perspective

We sell tickets, so the rule applies to us and our reading of it is not disinterested. Showing a total makes our headline number look larger beside any seller still breaking the price out, which is a competitive cost we accept because the total is the honest comparison. Compliance is also easier for a first year independent festival than for a large platform, because we have fewer fee lines and no inherited systems to reconcile. Readers can weigh our position accordingly.

What This Means in Central Florida

We did not review fee schedules from Central Florida venues, promoters or ticketing platforms for this article, so we make no claim about local fee levels. The point we can support is structural: a buyer in Orlando, Apopka or Kissimmee gets the federal display floor plus the state resale and refund protections, and as far as we could confirm, nothing in Florida law adds a state display requirement on top of the federal one.

The practical version for a fan here is short. Compare totals at checkout rather than headline prices, since the rule exists to make that comparison possible. On a resale site, the refund guarantee in section 817.36 is worth knowing before anything goes wrong.

Frequently Asked: Does the FTC Rule Mean Ticket Fees Are Going Away?

No. The rule governs how prices are displayed, not how much a seller may charge, and mandatory fees can still be set at whatever level the market supports. What changed on May 12, 2025 is that the total a buyer will pay has to appear clearly and prominently in the advertised price, and that any charge left out of it has to be explained before the purchase is completed.

Sunset Country Fest takes place on April 3, 2027, at the Apopka Amphitheater, 3710 Jason Dwelley Pkwy, Apopka, FL 32712. Gates open at 2:00 PM.

Sources & References

• Federal Trade Commission: StubHub Refunding $10 Million in Fees to Consumers After Deceptive Ticket Pricing (April 9, 2026)
• Federal Trade Commission: Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (final rule)
• Federal Register, January 10, 2025, 90 FR 2066
• Florida Statutes, Section 817.36, Resale of tickets
• Congressional Research Service, Tickets for Live Entertainment Events (R48179)
• H.R. 1402, TICKET Act, 119th Congress

Disclaimer: Important Notice

The information published in this article is based on publicly available data from official sources, press releases, and music industry publications available at the time of writing. Tour dates, ticket prices, venue details, setlists, album release schedules, award nominations, lineup announcements, and all other details referenced in this article are subject to change at any time without prior notice.

Sunset Country Fest makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any information contained herein. All changes, cancellations, rescheduling, postponements, or modifications to any events, releases, tour dates, award results, or announcements referenced in this article are the sole responsibility of the artists, record labels, talent agencies, concert promoters, venues, and any other third parties involved.

Sunset Country Fest shall not be held liable for any decisions, travel arrangements, ticket purchases, or other actions taken by readers based on the information published here. We strongly encourage all readers to verify current details, including dates, venues, ticket availability, and event status, directly through official artist channels, venue box offices, and authorized ticketing platforms before making any plans or purchases.

Last updated: October 31, 2026 · Sunset Country Fest Editorial Team · Contact Us