Ticket resale laws: Football not part of government ticket crackdown

The Premier League’s “unauthorised” list of ticket sellers contains more than 50 websites including Stubhub and Vivid Seats, where Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is a director and investor.

The companies operating the black market resales are registered in countries such as Spain, Dubai, Germany and Estonia.

They are able to freely do this because the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act only applies to a ticket resale occurring within England and Wales – so they are untouchable.

BBC Sport looked at four sites on the list which listed tens of thousands of Premier League tickets.

For example, more than 18,000 tickets were advertised for Arsenal v Nottingham Forest alone – nearly a third of the Emirates’ capacity.

As part of the investigation we were able to buy tickets easily through the black market for four games.

Prices ranged from £55 to £14,962, often far exceeding face value and usually including a significant booking fee.

All our tickets were transferred digitally, in one instance on the morning of the game, and worked as mobile passes.

The practice has been described as “endemic” in English football, but it’s not going to be stopped.