Senators Cantwell-Cruz Letter on Oasis Fake Tickets
NIVA Writes on behalf of the nation’s independent venues, festivals, promoters, artists, and fans to share evidence of widespread deceptive practices by predatory brokers and resale platforms ahead of the Official On Sale of The Oasis U.S. Tour
The Honorable Ted Cruz
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
Chair
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz:
I write on behalf of the nation’s independent venues, festivals, promoters, artists, and fans to share evidence of widespread deceptive practices by predatory brokers and resale platforms. Right now on resale ticket platforms, there are at least 9,000 fake tickets on sale for upcoming Oasis shows in the U.S. We know these tickets are fake, because not a single ticket has been sold yet for the 2025 Oasis U.S. tour dates. Tickets do not go on sale until this Friday, October 4.
The artists, music workers, and independent stages that are the backbone of the live sector have been warning Congress for the last two years about the consumer abuse taking place at the hands of predatory ticket brokers who are empowered by multi-billion dollar resale platforms like Stubhub and Vivid Seats. These sites know that predatory brokers are selling speculative tickets and they allow it to continue to happen. Speculative “tickets” are not in the possession of the predatory brokers that are selling them. In this case, the tickets do not even yet exist, which makes them fake. The examples laid out in this letter prove that this is an emergency, and we call on Congress to address it immediately.
This week, on Monday, September 30, Oasis announced that they would reunite for the first time in 16 years to play five dates in North America in the Fall of 2025. Three of those dates will be in the U.S., in East Rutherford, N.J., Chicago, IL, and Pasadena, CA. The on-sale date is this Friday, October 4th, with some presales beginning Thursday, October 3rd.
On two major resale platforms - Stubhub and Vivid Seats - there are conservative estimates of at least 9,000 “tickets” being posted for sale in the last 24 hours, when there is no evidence of a single ticket going on sale to the public yet.
Here are the egregious examples of fake tickets across the two platforms. Screenshots and data in Exhibits A-L were collected between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET on October 1, 2024.
Stubhub had 2,177 fake ticket listings across the three U.S. Oasis shows. The listings ranged in number of tickets for each listing from one to 20, with the overwhelming majority of listings selling two “tickets” (Exhibit A, B, and C). We found no listings with any warnings or messages that the “tickets” listed were not in the possession of the seller (Exhibit D, E, and F). We estimate that - conservatively - there were approximately 4,354 fake tickets listed on Stubhub across all three shows as of the evening of October 2nd.
Vividseats had 1,725 fake ticket listings across the three U.S. Oasis shows. The listings ranged in number of tickets for each listing from 1 to “8+” with the overwhelming majority of listings selling 2 tickets (Exhibit G, H, and I). We found a significant number of listings with no warning or messages that the tickets were not in the possession of the seller, including the most expensive tickets across all three nights (Exhibit J, K, and L). We estimate that - conservatively - there were approximately 3,450 fake tickets listed on Vividseats across all three shows as of the evening of October 2nd.
Even more egregious is messaging on Vivid Seats sharing misinformation with fans that only “1% of tickets [are] left” (Exhibit M) when again, the official ticket sale has not yet begun.
Then, today, less than 40 minutes after Oasis announced that they were adding two additional U.S. dates in East Rutherford and Pasadena, more than 200 fake ticket listings appeared on Stubhub, totaling 666 fake tickets (268 tickets for Pasadena and 398 tickets for East Rutherford) as of 4:05 p.m. ET Wednesday, October 2 (Exhibit N and O).
What is happening this week with Oasis tickets in the U.S. is alarming, but it pales in comparison to what artists and independent stages see every day from predatory resellers. This letter is a defense of consumers and artists everywhere. It is not a defense of the publicly-traded, multinational conglomerate that’s promoting the tour, as they are under legal scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice and 40 state attorneys general - important work to level the playing field for the live entertainment ecosystem.
We are sharing examples of speculative and fake tickets from the Oasis shows with Congress because these are among the highest-profile sales that get the public’s and Congress’ attention. The scourge of fake tickets for these shows and so many other lower profile shows deceives consumers and may even lead them to buy flights, hotels, dinners, and more that they can’t recover if they don’t receive the ticket they have purchased or if the ticket they receive does not work.
The prices for these fake tickets are likely exceedingly higher than the face value of the tickets. We can’t determine the exact markup on the fake tickets given that there are no tickets available for the public to buy, let alone see the price. These price gouged tickets will leave fans with less money to spend on other shows and less money for the food, drink, and merchandise that generate critical revenue for the local communities where these shows happen.
We call on the Senate Commerce Committee to hold a hearing on predatory practices in the live space, including the sale of speculative or fake tickets, when Congress returns from recess following the election. We urge Congress to probe the ticket brokers and resale platforms empowering those brokers to sell fake tickets and use deceptive practices that victimize fans every day, including around the sale of Oasis tickets in the U.S.
We also urge your Committee to take up the Fans First Act as part of a markup to ultimately advance comprehensive ticketing reform as part of a year-end legislative package.
We stand ready to assist you as you continue to work to prioritize the needs of artists and fans through your work on ticketing.
Sincerely,
Stephen Parker
Executive Director
National Independent Venue Association
The Honorable Jacky Rosen, Nevada
The Honorable Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico
The Honorable John Hickenlooper, Colorado
The Honorable Peter Welch, Vermont
The Honorable John Thune, South Dakota
The Honorable Deb Fischer, Nebraska
The Honorable Jerry Moran, Kansas
The Honorable Dan Sullivan, Alaska
The Honorable Todd Young, Indiana
The Honorable Ted Budd, North Carolina
The Honorable Eric Schmitt, Missouri
The Honorable J. D. Vance, Ohio
The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
The Honorable Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming
Nathaniel Marro, National Independent Talent Organization (NITO)
Cc:
The Honorable John Cornyn, Texas
The Honorable Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
The Honorable Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
The Honorable Roger Wicker, Mississippi
The Honorable Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi
The Honorable Mark Kelly, Arizona
The Honorable Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin
The Honorable Rick Scott, Florida
The Honorable Gary Peters, Michigan
The Honorable Raphael Warnock, Georgia
The Honorable Brian Schatz, Hawaii
The Honorable Ed Markey, Massachusetts
The Honorable Tammy Duckworth, Illinois
The Honorable Jon Tester, Montana
The Honorable Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona
Exhibit A: A screenshot from Stubhub.com showing 824 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis August 28, 2025 show at Soldier Field in Chicago. When the ticket quantity was adjusted it showed even more speculative/fake ticket listings.
Exhibit B: A screenshot from Stubhub.com showing 713 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis August 31, 2025 show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. When the ticket quantity was adjusted it showed even more speculative/fake ticket listings.
Exhibit C: A screenshot from Stubhub.com showing 640 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis September 6, 2025 show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. When the ticket quantity was adjusted it showed even more speculative/fake ticket listings.
Exhibit D: A StubHub.com “ticket” to Oasis’ August 31, 2025 show at MetLife Stadium without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $1,503 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit E: A StubHub.com “ticket” to Oasis’ August 28, 2025 show at Soldier Field without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $2,081 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit F: A StubHub.com “ticket” to Oasis’ September 6, 2025 show at the Rose Bowl without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $2,418 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit G: A screenshot from vividseats.com showing 913 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis August 28, 2025 show at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Exhibit H: A screenshot from vividseats.com showing 436 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis August 31, 2025 show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
Exhibit I: A screenshot from vividseats.com showing 376 speculative/fake ticket listings for the Oasis September 6, 2025 show at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena.
Exhibit J: A vividseats.com “ticket” to Oasis’ August 28, 2025 show at Soldier Field without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $6,622 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit K: A vividseats.com “ticket” to Oasis’ August 31, 2025 show at MetLife Stadium without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $8,388 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit L: A vividseats.com “ticket” to Oasis’ September 6, 2025 show at Soldier Field without any disclosure about the ticket not being in the possession of the reseller. It is also likely these $10,813.51 tickets will be significantly higher than face value.
Exhibit M: A screenshot from vividseats.com showing deceptive messaging on an Oasis fake ticket listing used to create false urgency for fans to buy a “ticket” even though tickets have not gone on sale yet.
Exhibit N: A screenshot from StubHub.com showing 129 fake ticket listings created less than 40 minutes following the announcement at 3:17 p.m. E.T. on October 2nd of an additional Oasis show at MetLife Stadium on September 1, 2025.
Exhibit O: A screenshot from StubHub.com showing 69 fake ticket listings created less than 40 minutes following the announcement at 3:17 p.m. E.T. on October 2nd of an additional Oasis show at the Rose Bowl on September 7, 2025.
ABOUT NIVA
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) represents independent music and comedy venues, promoters, and festivals throughout the U.S. NIVA led the #SaveOurStages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.
NIVA's mission is to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live venues, promoters, and festivals throughout the United States. NIVA is committed to equity in its support and advocacy for independent venues and 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.
CONTACT
Lucky Break PR
Kris Ferraro, Kris@luckybreakpr.com
Mike Stommel, Mike@luckybreakpr.com
