Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly is reportedly co-owner of an ‘unauthorised’ website that takes part in the reselling of Premier League tickets to foreign tourists.
Boehly, 51, who is also a co-owner of the Blues, is an investor and director of Vivid Seats, an online marketplace based in the US.
Users and fans based in the UK cannot buy or sell tickets on the platform, with it made a criminal offence to resell tickets for football matches following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
However, according to a report in The Telegraph, Vivid Seats has allowed foreign-based users to re-sell tickets to Chelsea games among others for tens of thousands of pounds, with the platform said to take a 10 per cent commission and hefty service fee of the original ticket price.
Ticket touting has proved to be a major problem in recent times, with Chelsea regularly denouncing the practice and viewing it as a major problem.
In fact, the club have promised sanctions for anyone involved in ticket touting, including removing season tickets or preventing those who do it from attending games, while they highlighted that criminal sanctions could even follow.
Chelsea chairman and co-owner Todd Boehly is reportedly also co-owner of an ‘unauthorised’ website that takes part in the reselling of Premier League tickets to foreign tourists
Vivid Seats allows foreign-based users to resell tickets to several Premier League games
Ticket touting has proven to be a major problem at Chelsea and the club has pledged to stop it
Vivid Seats is listed by the Premier League as an ‘unauthorised ticketing website’, meaning that as per the report, Boehly could be profiting from a highly controversial practice his club has been strongly against.
Fans who buy tickets from unauthorised websites face the risk of being duped, while they also could be denied entry to a game despite spending vast sums.
On its website, Vivid Seats states that ‘the event must take place in the United States’ for tickets to be sold on the platform, while sellers have to live in the US.
However, tickets are listed for the rest of the Premier League season on Vivid Seats, including Liverpool’s final day clash against Crystal Palace – which could see the Reds lift the title – where prices range from £1,765 to £19,369.
One furious Chelsea fan told The Telegraph: ‘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.’
Despite the issues surrounding Vivid Seats and the criminality of ticket touting in the UK, there are several other foreign-based websites that are involved in similar practices.
Vivid Seats describes itself as: ‘A legitimate and reliable ticket marketplace for EPL tickets. Vivid Seats is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, has over a million 5-star reviews on ShopperApproved, a 4.1-star rating on Trustpilot, and a 4.7-star rating on the Apple Store app. We have a Buyer Guarantee that is designed to provide full peace of mind, safety, and security for our valued customers.’
Tickets for Liverpool vs Crystal Palace in May can be bought for between £1,765-£19,480
Vivid Seats is listed by the Premier League as an ‘unauthorised ticketing website’
When questioned for comment by The Telegraph, they added: ‘As a global business, we are always respectful and cognisant of local regulatory policies and procedures that are in place in any market to ensure we are compliant.
‘As such, our policy restricts the sale of EPL tickets from UK sellers. We can confirm that we do not have any UK sellers listing EPL inventory on our marketplace. Additionally, Vivid Seats does not and has never directly marketed or advertised Premier League tickets to UK customers.
‘Vivid Seats and Chelsea have a longstanding and respectful partnership, which was publicly announced in 2023, where we partnered with Chelsea on their first-ever Premier League pre-season tournament in the USA.
‘Regarding pricing, Vivid Seats does not set the base price for tickets sold on its marketplace or receive any revenue from that base price; only the seller sets and receives the base ticket price.’
