A lawsuit was filed in January by some Boston Red Sox ticket buyers alleging that the ball club for a number of years advertised misleading low prices for tickets but then jacked up the total price by adding various junk fees at the end of the online purchasing transaction.
In the suit [see complaint] the consumers’ lawyers alleged:
*MOUSE PRINT:
The Red Sox’s false advertising centers on their use of drip pricing and junk fees. Specifically, the Red Sox would advertise illusorily low prices for their tickets. When purchasers attempted to buy those tickets, however, the Red Sox would add mandatory fees at the last minute, such as “Per-Ticket Fees” and “Order Fees,” that could increase the cost of a purchase by as much as 150%.
After ticket buyers saw the advertised price for the tickets they wanted and added them to their cart, a countdown clock popped up giving them five minutes to complete the transaction. Only as buyers got close to finalizing their purchase were “per-ticket fees” and “order fees” added to their bill which could substantially increase the ticket price, particularly on cheaper tickets.
For example, one of the ticket buyers in the case was purchasing a $21 ticket, but when the junk fees were added on, the total came to $31.50.
The lawsuit focuses on the 2022 to 2024 baseball seasons. After that state and federal regulations kicked in requiring the complete pricing of event tickets upfront.
In particular the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees went into effect in May 2025, requiring businesses that sell live-event tickets and short-term lodging to disclose the total price upfront.
Similarly, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office issued new junk fee regulations in September 2025 requiring that the initial price shown to consumers be the total price except for shipping and government taxes.
Like Ticketmaster which was sued for similar alleged deceptive practices and subsequently started advertising complete prices upfront, the Boston Red Sox now do the same thing:
You now see the total price including fees when first searching for tickets.
No surprise. After all it’s Boston. (The Yankees would NEVER do anything like that.)
No, they just rip you off from the beginning
great – now if they could get the airlines to follow this approach.
The deception of stadium, accommodation and air travel pricing reads from the same handbook. The countdown clock for fleeting event seating for (BUY IT TODAY, BECAUSE IT’LL BE GONE!, said every car salesman) is a nice touch to instill the “scarcity fear” into the mark.
In their defense the countdown clock is because those seats are held and not available for sale. How long do you think they should keep the seats off the market while you decide to buy?
That doesn’t justify the outrageous fee policy (common at most event venues). I’ve even stopped going to local live music venue that *used* to be reasonably priced, then they started tacking on fees.
Unless I’m missing something, the plaintiffs need to brush up on their math.
As far as I can tell, their claim that these fees “could increase the cost of a purchase by as much as 150%” is based on an example (#97 in the complaint). It says that “Ms. Smith once paid $31.50 for a ticket that the Red Sox initially advertised as just $21.”
Yes, $31.50 is 150% of $21. However, this represents an increase of 50%, not 150%. So it would have been accurate to say that in this example the final cost of the ticket was 150% of the advertised cost, an increase of 50%.