Mexican Authorities Issue Fine Against Ticketmaster Over BTS Sale

Mexico’s Consumer Protection Agency, Profeco, announced it would initiate a fine against Ticketmaster over its sale of BTS tickets last month.

Profeco said it would impose a fine of more than 5 million pesos (approximately $277,800) for alleged legal violations during the sale of tickets for the three concerts that the K-Pop superstars of BTS are set to hold at the GNP Seguros Stadium.

“The provider company has 10 business days to submit evidence and respond. This deadline concludes on Feb. 12,” Iván Escalante, head of Profeco, said during the morning presidential conference on Monday, adding that Ticketmaster was notified about the proceedings on January 28.

Additionally, he highlighted that Viagogo, TopHop, and Hello Ticket were also urged to comply with the county’s laws and avoid unfair practices.

Ahead of the sale, Profeco (Mexico’s federal consumer protection agency) moved to intervene in BTS ticket sales after receiving thousands of complaints and requests from fans demanding clearer information. Profeco formally urged Ticketmaster and promoter OCESA (owned by Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment) to publish pricing tables, fees, seating maps, and full terms and conditions in advance, including clarity around whether “dynamic” pricing will be used and how inventory will be distributed between presale and general sale.

| READ: BTS Tour Presale: Some Fans Report Crashes, Others Score Seats Amid Massive Demand |

According to Mexican promoter OCESA, BTS’ scheduled shows in Mexico City on May 7, 9, and 10 have completely sold-out. Ticketmaster México noted that 1.1 million people were queued in the virtual line for all three dates, selling out in just 37 minutes. While Ticketmaster México told Billboard Español that it does not use dynamic pricing to modify ticket prices during the sale and “prices were established by the artist, their team, and promoter according to the location of each section,” fans still struggled to score seats.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum even reached out to South Korea to bring more BTS concerts to the country, sending a diplomatic note to South Korea’s president Lee Jae-myung.

“BTS is very popular among Mexican youth. The concerts will be in May, and around a million youngsters want to buy tickets, but there are only 150,000 available,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference.

“I spoke with the head of OCESA, which is the organizer, with [general director] Alejandro Soberón,” Sheinbaum continued. “I asked him what the possibility was for more [BTS] concerts, because throughout the weekend, there were complaints about the alleged resale of tickets.”

Sheinbaum said that Soberón’s response was that there were no more dates available, which led her to reach out to the South Korean president.

BTS’ onsale drew fury from fans across the globe due to high ticket prices; fans faced hundreds of thousands of people in an online queue, were met with error codes, and were kicked-out before reaching the checkout page. Those that did make it through the queue complained of exorbitant ticket prices.