Premier League ‘Contact’ Chelsea Over Serious Todd Boehly Concern | OneFootball

Chelsea have been contacted by the Premier League to seek clarification over chairman Todd Boehly’s involvement with an “unauthorised ticket seller”.

BBC Sport explains that the Premier League has “written” to Chelsea to understand the club’s relationship with re-selling platforms, given that Boehly is a director and co-owner of Vivid.

Vivid is a ticket re-selling platform that is not authorised by the Premier League and barred from operating in the United Kingdom. Unauthorised third-party re-selling and in-person touting is illegal. But Vivid is permitted to operate overseas and individual Chelsea match tickets that have appeared on the website have been listed for as much as £20,000 ($26,876).

It is potentially an awkward position for Chelsea, who have taken a firm stance on ticket touting and unauthorised re-selling in recent seasons.

The club’s own website has a substantial amount of information available to supporters warning against purchasing tickets from unauthorised sources.

“We wish to make clear to fans that ticket touting (scalping) is an illegal activity in the UK and supporters should only purchase tickets from official sellers,” the club says, actively warning fans could be denied entry to Stamford Bridge if caught with unauthorised tickets.

“When matchday tickets are available online via third-party resellers or are being sold by people outside of the stadium, under England & Wales law—The Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994—it is illegal to sell, or to offer to sell, tickets to Chelsea Football Club matches without the authorisation of the club,” the information continues.

“As is the case for many Premier League clubs, there are sophisticated criminal operations targeting Chelsea, making vast profits via secondary ticket platforms. Many of the websites that advertise and sell tickets online are not within the jurisdiction of UK law.

“This means, while we report these sites when we see Chelsea tickets on them, there is little we can do to shut down the sites, or help supporters who are denied entry to our stadium because they have purchased a re-sold or counterfeit ticket from one of these websites.

“Buying tickets from unofficial outlets runs a very high risk of paying heavily inflated prices, receiving counterfeit or duplicated tickets, and ultimately being denied access to the match.”