Vivid Seats, the American ticket exchange and resale company, is under fire. Chelsea supporters today are calling for an independent inquiry into Todd Boehly’s alleged ties to the company. Vivid Seats and other similar sites The Premier League recently identified Vivid Seats as a “recognized unauthorized ticket website.” This puts their operations under intense scrutiny, specifically around scalping practices. Concerns have ramped up since the controversy first broke. Just last week, Vivid Seats had a Liverpool home game ticket listed for a whopping £20,000.
Todd Boehly, who owns close to 37% of Chelsea FC, is an investor and served as a director at Vivid Seats. This relationship has led some Chelsea supporters to raise serious doubts about the integrity of ticket sales linked to the club. By lucratively providing fans, particularly those of us not lucky enough to live in the UK, a market to purchase overpriced Premier League tickets, Vivid Seats eagerly promotes ticket scalping. This practice seems to clearly contradict Chelsea FC’s stated ticketing policy.
Fears have been raised about the resulting conflict of interest and the adverse effect on the government’s commitment to tackle ticket touting. A statement released to the BBC by a representative of the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) underlined the gravity of the matter.
“Vivid Seats continues to list Premier League tickets for above face value at significantly inflated rates and our members have continued to indicate that Mr Boehly’s connection with Vivid Seats is a breach of trust and a clear conflict of interest.” – CST spokesman
The Premier League has urged fans to “exercise extreme caution when dealing with these websites,” highlighting the need for vigilance amidst growing ticketing issues. The unauthorized resale of tickets undermines various stakeholders’ efforts, including Chelsea FC, the Premier League, and the Metropolitan Police, to maintain fair and legal ticket distribution.
“Not only does this undermine the efforts of Chelsea FC, The Premier League, and The Metropolitan Police to combat ticket touting, but Vivid Seats contravenes the Chelsea FC ticketing policy, and is explicitly named by the Premier League as a known unauthorised ticket website.” – CST spokesman
We did reach out to Vivid Seats for comment on these allegations, but have not heard back. The company isn’t just focused on Premier League events though, it powers the sale and exchange of tickets for events around the world. Even with this wider remit, its link to dodgy practices in Premier League ticket touting is still up for debate.
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