UK enacts law to ban sports ticket reselling; some football scalpers are still active

Hupu reported on November 20th from the BBC. The British government is about to introduce a law to curb the scalping of sports events.

However, the scope of effect of this law does not include football. Why is this?

BBC analyzes the particularity of football ticket rules - although legal restrictions on football scalpers began as early as 1994, the registration locations and transaction logic of some scalper companies are set overseas, making it impossible for ordinary British laws to restrict them.

Why the new law does not apply to football

Football ticket sales in the UK are already covered by current laws.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 stipulates that it is illegal for anyone other than the event organizer to resell tickets for football matches.

Only clubs or organizers can resell tickets on their official platform, for example when season ticket holders are unable to attend a match.

This law is mainly used to deal with anti-social behavior and, in the case of football, it aims to reduce the risk of violence and disorder at matches.

As a result, football will not be included in the new ticket sales legislation.

However, this law only applies to ticket sales in England and Wales.

What is the black market for football tickets?

The list of "unauthorized ticket sellers" officially announced by the Premier League includes more than 50 websites, including Stubhub and VividSeats (Chelsea owner Todd Burley is its director and investor).

These black market resale companies are registered in Spain, Dubai, Germany and Estonia.

The reason why they can operate freely is that the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act only covers resales that occur within England and Wales - platforms operating overseas cannot be held accountable.

BBCSport checked four websites on the list and found they listed tens of thousands of Premier League tickets.

For example, for just one match between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, more than 18,000 tickets were listed for sale, nearly one-third of the capacity of the Emirates Stadium.

During the investigation, we were able to easily purchase tickets for four games on the black market.

Prices range from £55 to £14,962, which are usually much higher than the face value, and almost always include high handling fees.

All the tickets we obtained were transferred electronically. One of them was even sent to the mobile phone on the morning of the game, but we were able to enter normally.

This phenomenon has been described as "the norm in English football", but it will not be stopped by the new regulations.

Why the "immunity" for Wimbledon match tickets may be good for Manchester United

Wimbledon successfully obtained immunity for its "concession tickets". These tickets provide priority seating at Center Court for five years, as well as access to exclusive restaurants and bars.

There are a total of 3,770 such seats, which can be traded on the platform or sold privately.

This could be good news for Manchester United as the club considers selling "seat licenses" to fund its planned £2bn new stadium.

The so-called seat license means that fans pay a certain amount in advance to obtain the right to purchase the same seat (season ticket) for a long time and have the right to resell it.

The price restrictions of the new legislation will not completely hinder the development of live venues in the UK. Under certain circumstances, venues can still generate stable upfront revenue for reinvestment through methods such as seat licensing at Wimbledon.