Todd Boehly co-owns website which re-sells Premier League tickets for tens of thousands of pounds
Exclusive: Chelsea co-owner is director of Vivid Seats, which has tickets for Liverpool’s final game of the season priced at over £17,000
A website co-owned by
Todd Boehly is involved in the “unauthorised” resale of tickets to Chelsea matches and other Premier League games to foreign tourists,
Telegraph Sport can reveal.
Vivid Seats, a US-based online marketplace of which Boehly is both an investor and director, does not allow fans based in Britain to buy or sell tickets – a practice which would be illegal.
It does, however, permit foreign-based users to tout tickets for up to tens of thousands of pounds, on which it charges 10 per cent commission and a service fee reported to run from 20 to 40 per cent of the original ticket price.
That raises the prospect of Chelsea co-owner Boehly profiting from a practice his own club has repeatedly denounced.
Vivid Seats is on the Premier League’s list of “unauthorised ticketing websites” and last year Chelsea said on its own website: “Chelsea FC is committed to tackling ticket touting, for both home and away matches. We identify individuals who fraudulently harvest tickets/memberships to sell at vastly inflated prices, investigate both online and offline illegal ticket sales, and use a range of tactics and enforcement measures that help to combat ticket touting.”
Vivid Seats’ website states that to sell a ticket on its platform, “The event must take place in the United States”, and, “You must reside in the United States”, and it refused to answer questions as to how it was listing Premier League matches.
The Premier League’s website urges fans to “exercise extreme caution” when dealing with “unauthorised ticketing websites” with the threat of anyone who buys through one being denied entry to a game or being duped by counterfeiters.
Boehly’s involvement has provoked fury among Chelsea supporters, one of whom told Telegraph Sport: “The fact that our owner could be benefiting personally at the expense of loyal supporters is hypocritical at best and downright dishonest at worst.
“Touting is a huge issue at Chelsea at the moment and it’s getting worse. There are fewer and fewer tickets available for supporters on a general admission, match-by-match basis.”
Telegraph Sport found tickets being advertised on Vivid Seats for what appear to be the remaining matches this season of every Premier League club.
On Monday, tickets on the site for current leaders Liverpool’s final-day game against Crystal Palace – when they could be presented with the Premier League trophy – were priced between £1,622 and £17,672.
Chelsea’s website, meanwhile, also stated last year: “Supporters found to be selling their ticket for more than face value will be subject to a club investigation and sanctions, including the removal of season tickets, memberships and access to the away match ticket scheme.