NIVA 2026 Kicks Off In Minneapolis, Announces Fan Action Center To Combat Fraudulent Ticket Resale

The 2026 National Independent Venue Association conference kicked off its opening session at the gorgeous Pantages Theatre (built in 1916) in Minneapolis with NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker leading a rather epic and sprawling two-hour session. It was essentially a State of NIVA which included welcome remarks from senior NIVA leadership (including NIVA president Audrey Fix Schaefer, board member Jamie Loeb and Lauren Kehrli, producer of this year’s conference), an overview of the venue advocacy group’s latest accomplishments and new initiatives along with a welcome speech from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, an excellent artist conversation with musician Cory Wong, several sponsor activations and a Zoom discussion with principles in the Live Nation antitrust suit — it was a lot to digest.

It stands to reason considering all NIVA has accomplished in the last year: This includes helping lead the antitrust suit against Live Nation, which was won in April after state attorneys general continued the suit following a DoJ settlement that many considered an inadequate settlement. NIVA also continues to lead the fight against exploitive ticketing practices in statehouses and court rooms across the country, working with some 17 states on ticketing bills. Parker also announced the expansion of its Live Independent program with plans to launch Live Independent Month & Day in 2027.

The session also included the National Independent Venue Foundation’s (NIVF) Laura Wilson, who explained how NIVF has helped place 93 individuals at venues via its Venue Operations eXperience (VOX) program.

One of the day’s biggest news stories to break out of the opening session was the launch of NIVA’s Fan Action Center, intended to combat “misleading, fraudulent, exploitative ticket resale.” Parker’s announcement of the new initiative began with NIVA identifying 6,000 deceptive ticketing URLs impersonating artists, venues, and festivals with URLs like ChrisStapleton-tour.org, or Chrisbrowntour.org. NIVA sent these seemingly suspicious sites to state attorneys general across the country, urging investigations into potential violations of consumer protection and deceptive trade practices laws.

The new Fan Action Center, Parker explained, has three main functions: to “report, advocate and share” whenever consumers are faced with unfair or exploitive ticketing practices, inlcuding buying a “bad ticket from a scalper,” having a “problem with a resale ticket” or being “ripped off by a resale ticket.”

“Fans shouldn’t have to navigate a system stacked against them just to see live music,” said Parker in a statement. “Our discovery of 6,000 deceptive ticketing websites and URLs offers a troubling window into the scale of consumer deception occurring across the ticket resale marketplace. The Fan Action Center gives fans the tools they need to take action when they confront issues like these, whether that’s pursuing a refund, reporting fraud, contacting consumer protection enforcement, policymakers, or sharing their experience, while helping build momentum for meaningful reform.”

NIVA also called on StubHub, TicketNetwork, Viagogo (owner of StubHub), Concerts50, TicketSqueeze and BigStub to terminate affiliate and seller accounts for scalpers using deceptive websites or URLs that link to their platform.

Mayor Jacob Frey spoke of Minneapolis’ strong music history mentioning Prince, The Replacements, Lizzo, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (but not Husker Du) and recalled living on 4th Street where fellow Minnesotan native Bob Dylan wrote “Positively 4th Street.” He also paid tribute to the heroic protestors who last winter peacefully stood up to the ICE raids as well as the venues, including the famed First Avenue, which supported the community both inside and outside their buildings.

Parker’s interview with Wong, who playes in three bands in Vulfpeck, The Fearless Flyers and The Cory Wong Band, was both entertaining and informative as the guitarist spoke knowledgeably on an array of topics. This included the use of AI, how to effectively reach fans, settlements with unexpected costs and solving for the younger generation’s lack of alcohol consumption. When the topic turned to ticketing, Wong said what few in the audience ever admit: “Ticketing is so boring me.”