Ticket sellers: event tickets: transit tickets.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify that LA Metro's charge is applicable to all sporting events, but rather specifically to matches held as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Ticket Sellers: Event Tickets and Public Transit

The bill requires ticket sellers for large events to offer transit tickets, allows transportation authorities in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties to charge up to $5 on certain event tickets related to the FIFA World Cup or NCAA Championships, and mandates free public transit use with those tickets.

What This Bill Does

• Requires ticket sellers or resellers of tickets to events at venues with more than 1,000 people to offer an all-day transit ticket when selling a ticket for the event.
• Allows the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) to charge up to $5 on tickets sold for specific sporting events in their counties related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup or NCAA Championships.
• Requires VTA and LA Metro to provide free public transportation services on the day of certain major sporting events if a ticket is presented at fare collection points.

Who It Names or Affects

• Ticket sellers and resellers for large events in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties.
• People buying tickets for sporting events in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties related to the FIFA World Cup or NCAA Championships.
• The Department of Transportation, VTA, and LA Metro.

Terms To Know

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)

A transportation authority responsible for public transit services in Santa Clara County.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)

An agency that plans, programs, and operates transportation systems in Los Angeles County.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if the VTA or LA Metro do not impose the $5 charge.
• It is unclear how many people will use free transit services on event days.
• The effectiveness of increased public transit usage due to this law remains uncertain.

Official Summary Text

AB 1237, as amended, McKinnor.
Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara: sporting events: ticket charge: public transit.
Ticket sellers: event tickets: transit tickets.
Existing law generally regulates persons who sell admission tickets to sporting, musical, theatre, or any other entertainment events, requiring them, among other things, to maintain records of ticket sales, deposits, and refunds. Existing law requires a ticket sellers that includes tickets to an event in conjunction with the sale of a tour or event package to disclose in any advertisement or promotional materials the price charged or allotted for the ticket. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions regulating ticket sellers a crime.
This bill would require a ticket seller or a person who resells a ticket to a sporting, musical, theatre, or any
other entertainment event located at a venue with a capacity of more than 1,000 persons to also, at the time that a ticket is purchased, give the consumer the option to purchase an all-day ticket from a transit provider that offers service to the venue during the time of the event, as specified. The bill would also require the Department of Transportation to prepare a study of additional transit sales generated pursuant to these provisions and report its findings to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2032. The bill would provide that a violation of the bill’s provisions do not constitute a crime.
Existing law creates the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) with various powers and duties relative to transportation projects and services in the County of Santa Clara.
This bill would authorize VTA to impose a charge of up to $5 on the purchaser of a ticket from a ticket vendor to a sporting event in the County of Santa Clara held as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup or the 2026 NCAA Men’s or Women’s Basketball Championship, as specified. The bill would require VTA to use any revenues collected from the charge to support its transit operations. The bill would require VTA, if it imposes the charge, to allow any person to use its transit services at no charge on the day of one of those sporting events if the person presents a ticket to that sporting event at the location where VTA collects fares for transit services. The bill would
require VTA, if it imposes the charge, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2027, that includes specified information regarding implementation of the bill.
Existing law creates the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) with specified powers and duties relative to transportation planning, programming, and operations in the County of Los Angeles.
This bill would authorize LA Metro to impose a charge of up to $5 on the purchaser of a ticket from a ticket vendor to a sporting event in the County of Los Angeles held as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as specified. The bill would require LA Metro to use any revenues collected from the charge to support its transit operations. The bill would require LA Metro, if it imposes the charge, to allow any person to use its transit services at no charge on the day a match is held as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup if the
person presents a ticket to the match at the location where LA Metro collects fares for transit services. The bill would require LA Metro, if it imposes the charge, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2027, that includes specified information regarding implementation of the bill.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF