Chelsea fans push Premier League to investigate their OWN OWNER Todd Boehly over ‘unauthorised ticket website’
CHELSEA fans have demanded the Premier League investigate their OWN OWNER Todd Boehly.
The American billionaire fronted the £4.25billion purchase of the West London club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.
He has since gone on a staggering transfer rampage, splashing out more than £1.2bn on new signings.
Boehly, 51, is also trying to figure out what the future home of Chelsea will look like amid hopes of building a bigger, more modern stadium to replace Stamford Bridge.
However, the LA Dodgers owner is not universally popular among Blues supporters – as demonstrated with a protest march against him and the Clearlake Capital and BlueCo groups who make up the consortium.
And now the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust have launched a scathing attack on Boehly by reporting him.
The organisation sent a letter to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.
And the centre of their fury is around Boehly’s connection to the controversial company Vivid Seats.
Since investing in 2021, Boehly has been a director at the business which resells tickets for Premier League matches, including Chelsea fixtures, at hugely inflated prices, often thousands of pounds above face value.
The American firm is listed by the Prem as an “unauthorised ticket website” and tells fans to “exercise extreme caution” if dealing with them and other exchange sites.
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Tickets for Chelsea’s London derby at home to Tottenham on April 3 are available to buy on Vivid Seats for more than £2,000 at the time of writing.
For the Liverpool game on May 2, prices range from £442 to more than £3,200.
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It is against British law to resell tickets in this way, making it illegal for UK-based fans to buy Premier League tickets from Vivid Seats.
It comes against the backdrop of the Stamford Bridge hierarchy proudly boasting of their crackdown on ticket touts outside the stadium on a matchday.
And Blues fans are furious with Boehly’s direct involvement in a website ripping off supporters wanting to watch their team in action live.
CST labelled it as a “breach of trust” and a “clear conflict of interest”.
The letter to Prem boss Masters said: “Mr Boehly’s connection with Vivid Seats is totally inappropriate and significantly undermines the efforts of Chelsea FC, The Premier League, and The Metropolitan Police to combat ticket touting.
‘NO EXCUSE’
“Vivid Seats continues to list Premier League tickets for above face value at significantly inflated rates.
“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.
“We believe that now is the time for the Premier League to act swiftly and ensure that a major shareowner of a Premier League club ceases facilitating the sale of tickets for significantly above face value.”
The Football Supporters’ Association threw their support behind the CST and added: “It is clear the Premier League needs to take action.
“Clubs, supporters’ groups, the police and the Premier League itself has worked hard in recent years to combat ticket touting – there is no excuse for a club owner to be involved in such activity.”
SunSport has contacted Chelsea for comment.