[Saba Sports News] According to British media reports, Chelsea is cracking down on illegal ticket resale as part of its ongoing campaign by blacklisting between 60,000 and 80,000 ticket-buying bots and suspending 16,000 membership accounts. As one of the Premier League clubs most frequently targeted by ticket scalpers, Chelsea has long been plagued by sophisticated criminal networks involved in the illegal resale of match tickets. Chelsea’s popularity far outstrips the capacity of Stamford Bridge, which holds only 40,000 spectators, creating immense supply-and-demand pressure. Meanwhile, scalpers are also looking to exploit tourists travelling to watch matches in London’s affluent neighbourhoods. Besides adopting new technology to block automated bots, Chelsea has increased the number of memberships suspended for misuse from the previous 5,000 to 16,000. The club also stated that among the 1,000 fans flagged per match for potential breaches of club policy, the uncollected ticket rate at collection points stands as high as 94%.
The editor believes that the Chelsea has allocated “additional resources” to tackle these issues. Meanwhile, the misuse of concession tickets has dropped by more than half, with the most noticeable improvement seen in the family stands. In response, some Chelsea fan groups have acknowledged that the club’s anti-tout measures are making a tangible impact.