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StubHub is paying $10 million to settle federal charges that it purposely failed to display all fees prior to checkout for a few days in order to capitalize on the NFL’s 2025 schedule announcement.
The charges, and the settlement, were filed by the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday. The secondary-ticketing marketplace was accused of violating the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, which states that companies must make clear up front how much consumers will be paying if they buy tickets.
That rule was enacted in January of last year and became effective May 12. But StubHub determined it could gain an advantage over competitors by delaying its compliance with the rule in order to cash in on the NFL, which unveiled its season schedule two days later, on May 14, according to the complaint. As competing ticketing platforms complied with the rule and showed consumers the full price they’d be paying, StubHub continued to display prices without all fees added until checkout, the government said.
StubHub “publicly supported the FTC’s fees rule while privately planning to violate it,” the government said in its complaint. The company slow-rolled into compliance because the NFL schedule release was considered a “99th percentile traffic event.” On May 14, 2025, the FTC issued a letter warning StubHub that it was in violation of the rule, but StubHub didn’t respond.
Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release that “price transparency is essential to a free and competitive marketplace, and the settlement “underscores the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that consumers pay the price they are promised.”
A StubHub spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Front Office Sports that the company has “long supported all-in pricing because it provides clarity for fans.”
“This settlement covers a limited number of transactions, spanning just three days in May 2025, where some listings on our site may have displayed ticket prices exclusive of fees,” the statement said. “While we strongly disagree with the FTC’s view of the case, we are addressing their concerns by refunding a portion of those buyers’ fees.”
The $10 million will be paid to affected customers through a “consumer redress distribution program,” according to the statement.
StubHub did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company’s stock is down more than 71% over the past year. A Thursday viral social media post from the cofounder of ticketing industry media platform Ticket Talk Network nodded to the company’s performance and said “this is what happens when you scam fans and resellers daily.”
But Greg Bettinelli, a partner at The Chernin Group, disputed that notion on X, responding that while StubHub “doesn’t have much positive momentum,” the company’s performance is less about scamming customers and more about investors not seeing a path to “growth and cash flows.”
