Memorandum submitted by The All England
Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club
All England Lawn Tennis Club ("the Club"),
as principal organiser of The Wimbledon Championships, strongly
supports the introduction of legislation to counter ticket touting
at major sporting events.
We believe, in our case, that ticket touting:
— undermines our policy of making show
court tickets available, at fair prices and through a fair process,
to the general public;
— diverts significant resources and
funds which would otherwise be spent on development of tennis
(and particularly "grass roots" development);
— wrongly puts profits in the hands
of "touts" with none of the profit going to the benefit
of the game; and
— damages the reputation of a world-class
sporting event.
We believe stronger legislative regulation would
greatly assist enforcement of measures to counter "touting"
and would be in the public interest.
WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS:
TICKET BACKGROUND
The Wimbledon Championships ("The Championships")
are one of the great sporting events of the world. The two-week
championships, at the end of June and the beginning of July each
year, are one of the four "grand slam" tournaments of
international tennis. They are attended annually by over 400,000
spectators. They are viewed, internationally, by millions on television.
The history of The Championships is a long and
proud one. They have retained a unique and characteristic flavour—not
only because of the quality of the tennis played by competitors
but also by the special atmosphere created by the Club and the
spectators.
The Club is a private members' club. It organises
The Championships through a Committee of Management on which the
Lawn Tennis Association ("the LTA") is represented.
The financial surplus generated by The Championships, after the
expenses of maintaining the Club grounds and premises, is used
by the LTA for the general benefit of British tennis. The Club
is responsible for issuing all tickets for The Championships.
The Club has never run The Championships with
profit as the foremost motive or purely as a commercial venture.
For that reason, the tickets available to the public at large
have always been kept reasonably priced. The Club set up the public
ballot system in 1922 to ensure, as between members of the public,
an equal opportunity to obtain tickets. Other tickets are distributed
to members, officials and via the LTA to affiliated members, including
local tennis clubs and foreign tennis associations.
There are two principal "show courts",
Centre Court and Court No. 1, holding approximately 14,000 and
11,500 spectators respectively. Tickets for Court No. 2 (holding
2,000 spectators) are also sold in advance. Entrance to The Championships
is by ticket only. Tickets for these show courts are all sold
in advance—except that 500 tickets for each of Centre Court
and Court 2 are available for purchase "on the day"
for the first nine days (subject to weather conditions) and 500
tickets for Court 1 on each day for the whole of The Championships.
In addition, there are approximately 6,000 ground passes a day
sold on the gates (subject to weather conditions and ground capacity).
Significant queues build up for these tickets sold on the day
and, indeed, queuing has become a popular event in itself.
Tickets for Wimbledon are in huge demand. Demand
far exceeds supply. The Management Committee of The Championships
believes that tickets should be made available, fairly, to a wide
section of the public and in accordance with a structured ticketing
policy. The distribution arrangements reflect this policy.
— Tickets are not sold for maximum
profit at the highest prices the "market" will bear.
The "face value" of tickets is deliberately kept at
a level which enables The Championships to be widely affordable
by the public. (Prices for Centre Court for 2007 range through
the fortnight from £36 on the first day to £87 on men's
finals day. There is evidence that the full "market"
price would be substantially in excess of these figures—prices
advertised over the Internet by some "sellers" for men's
finals day currently reach in excess of £3,000 per pair.)
— A substantial proportion of show
court tickets are made available in advance to the general public
through an annual "public ballot". The public ballot
is always substantially over-subscribed. There is a separate ballot
for wheelchair users.
— A substantial proportion of tickets
are made available (principally through the LTA) to parties involved
directly in tennis or for whom an allocation to encourage further
involvement in tennis is appropriate: members of tennis clubs
throughout the country; schools; volunteers; limited numbers for
foreign tennis associations etc.
— The number of tickets allocated for
corporate hospitality or tour packages, or otherwise sold at a
"premium" to face value, is deliberately kept at a low
proportion. As a general policy, these constitute less than 10%
of the tickets on Centre Court and a lower percentage on Court
1.
— All tickets are non-transferable
(except Debenture tickets—see below). Any sale to a third
party renders the ticket "invalid".
— If a purchaser of a ticket cannot
attend, we operate a full refund policy up to the eve of the day
to which the ticket applies. (Although our conditions allow us
to make an administration charge, we do not currently do so, although
the LTA may make a small administration charge with its refunds.)
— The one exception to the non-transferability
rule is that tickets issued to holders of Debentures are freely
transferable. Debentures are securities issued for an initial
capital sum, entitling the holder to tickets for a defined period,
usually five years. The proceeds of issue contribute substantially
to the capital funds required to carry out continuous ground improvements
to ensure that Wimbledon's facilities remain at the top of those
appropriate for a major sporting event. Debenture tickets are
re-saleable. Those willing to pay "high" prices can
purchase tickets held by Debentureholders to the extent that these
are available on the market.
Against this background, we submit our views
and evidence in the context of The Wimbledon Championships on
the particular issues raised by your inquiry.
1. IMPACT OF
TOUTING ON
PERFORMERS, PROMOTERS
AND THE
PUBLIC
The cause of ticket touting, in the case of
a major sporting event such as Wimbledon where ticket demand exceeds
supply, is simply the opportunity which touts see to make a substantial
profit by acquiring and on-selling tickets to customers willing,
and able, to pay high prices. Some of these customers are organisations
attempting to put together "unofficial" corporate or
similar hospitality packages. Other customers are individual fans
who have not acquired tickets through the "official"
ticket distribution arrangements for the Championships.
If unchecked, we believe that activities of
ticket touts can adversely affect the character of the crowd at
sporting events. More immediately, the growth of ticket touting
over the years has itself resulted in other unpleasant and damaging
consequences, reflecting badly on the Club and The Championships
and causing inconvenience to their organisation and visitors.
As the demand for black market tickets grew,
so touts became more aggressive in seeking to obtain them from
members of the public who held tickets. The Club was and remains
very concerned about the problems for its nearby residents caused
by unauthorised ticket trading. The Club receives the blame for
such problems and the activities of touts damage the Club's and
The Championships' reputation, are seriously disruptive and erode
the traditional enjoyment of this major sporting occasion. Strenuous
efforts are therefore taken to counter the activities of touts.
Importantly:
— None of the profit made by touts
goes into the development of the game.
— None of the profit made by touts
is received by the promoters (ourselves/the LTA) or the performers
(the players).
— Every ticket which is touted is one
which could (and should) have been available, by fair process
and at a fair price, to a member of the public who has been unlucky
when applying through the proper and open channels of the public
ballot or our other distribution arrangements.
— We have seen many examples of touts
selling, at substantial mark-ups, tickets that had been intended
for special groups such as school children and even persons with
disabilities.
— Our experience indicates that secondary
agents currently engage in practices (eg use of multiple identities
and/or multiple applications) designed to abuse the process of
obtaining tickets through our public ballot.
— Touting involves us in significant
costs and resources (financial, legal and administrative—including
police and security) which would be better spent on the development
of the game. We estimate that our financial costs alone (excluding
administrative time and expense) for "anti-touting"
measures are in excess of £150,000 per annum. Profits from
our event go entirely to the development of the game through the
LTA. Every pound spent on measures to deal with touting is a pound
which could have been available for the development of the game
and grass-roots tennis.
— We are also concerned that touting
of tickets to unknown third parties has material security implications.
Recipients of tickets issued by us through the public ballot,
or by the LTA through their distribution arrangements, can be
individually recorded and traced. Purchasers of tickets through
touts cannot. This undermines security.
In summary, we believe ticket touting has a
significant and negative consequence for "ordinary"
fans, the organisation of The Championships and the development
of the game.
2. RE -SALE
OF TICKETS
We introduced ticket conditions in 1991 which
provide that only the person to whom the ticket is issued can
use it. Except for Debenture tickets, the re-sale of a ticket
is prohibited—and transfer renders it invalid. We believe
strongly that it is right that our tickets should not be transferable.
There should, in our opinion, be no "in principle" or
automatic right to re-sell. As a private members' club we clearly
have the legal right to determine who should be allowed to enter
the premises. In the same way as a club membership cannot be transferred,
so our principle is that a ticket should not be permitted to be
sold unless the Club consents. We firmly believe this is fair
and in the interests of the public:
— The "no transferability"
condition is essential to our policy of ensuring that tickets
are used only by the intended categories of persons to whom they
are issued: the public applying properly through the ballot; schools;
wheelchair users; members of tennis clubs; other contributors
to the game etc.
— Re-sale simply fuels the business
of the touts—with the negative consequences previously set
out.
— It is certainly wrong that any re-sale
should take place above face value. This simply undermines our
ticketing policy and provides a "business" for touts.
Where the initial issue of a ticket has been made at less than
full market price, in order to encourage access to a wide group
of the public through a controlled distribution process, it is
wrong in principle that a recipient should gain a profit on re-sale—none
of which profit goes back into the game. All this does is deprive
someone of the opportunity to acquire tickets at a reasonable
price.
— A re-sale at face value should still,
in our view, be prohibited in the circumstances of the Wimbledon
Championships. In principle, any such sale diverts the ticket
away from the intended group—for instance, the sale of a
ticket that was meant to be used by a school child which is sold
to someone other than this is still diverting the ticket from
the proper channel. Whilst we would use our discretion in a purely
harmless case, the risk of abuse is high unless prohibited as
a general principle. We believe we are right to prohibit all transferability—except
for Debenture tickets.
3. IMPACT OF
THE INTERNET
The Internet has had a major impact on trade
in tickets for Wimbledon—particularly the growth of "auction"
sites such as eBay or "re-seller" sites such as viagogo.
Checks carried out in 2006 showed that more than 1800 tickets
were offered for auction on eBay alone for the 2006 Wimbledon
Championships.
Most of these sales did not state the face value
of the ticket and did not draw attention to non-transferability
conditions. They rarely satisfy the requirements of consumer protection
legislation. Even though eBay now requires sellers to state the
face value of a ticket, there is usually nothing to indicate the
seating position of the ticket.
A major problem with the growth of such sites
is the way it creates so-called "bedroom touts"—any
one with a computer can now be a tout. We believe that firm legislation,
clearly outlawing internet touting in relation to major events
such as Wimbledon, is necessary in order to prevent the further
growth of internet activity damaging the fair process of ticket
distribution to the public for our event.
4. TERMS PROHIBITING
TRANSFER: FAIRNESS
We believe, certainly in the context of tickets
for the Wimbledon Championships, that the terms and conditions
of our tickets prohibiting transfer and onward sale are fair.
— Tickets are issued at a price which,
knowingly, is less than a full market price.
— The non-transferability condition
is clearly drawn to the attention of any applicant in the public
ballot or other purchaser.
— Adequate arrangements exist for a
full refund of the ticket price (up to the eve of the day in question)
if the individual is unable to attend.
— Our ticket terms and conditions have
been reviewed and approved by Trading Standards and our ticket
distribution policy and allied terms and conditions have been
cleared by the OFT of allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.
— In addition to police measures to
enforce street trading and public nuisance laws in and around
Wimbledon, we take extensive legal and administrative measures
to ensure that (as far as possible) these ticket conditions are
enforced—particularly against suspected "professional
touts". We do not, of course, catch all examples of touting—but
we are successful in catching significant numbers. We have sued
and obtained judgments against over 75 ticket touts in the last
three years alone. In 2006, nearly 700 people found to have been
trying to sell their tickets were stopped as a result of action
by the Club.
— If touting were made a criminal offence,
we believe enforcement would be even more successful. Self-policing
would be easier and more efficient. Importantly, we believe that
internet auction sites would stop allowing the unauthorised re-sale
of tickets and/or action by us to prevent such sales for profit
would be more readily available.
5. NEW APPROACHES
The Club appreciates that in the last 12 months
the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has held a
series of "summits" which she hoped would lead to a
voluntary code to regulate the activities of ticket touts. However,
despite some minor concessions from eBay (for instance, over stating
the face value of tickets), it seems to us that the voluntary
route has not succeeded. Indeed, since the process commenced,
our experience in relation to Wimbledon is that more touts have
set up websites and the pace of sales on internet sites such as
eBay has increased.
We, ourselves, do not believe that the voluntary
approach will or can work. We firmly believe that further legislation
is required.
6. LEGISLATION
Section 144 Criminal Justice and Public Order
Act 1994 (as amended) made ticket touting for football unlawful.
However, we are advised that the Act also provides that the Home
Secretary can extend this to any event for which more than 6,000
tickets are sold.
Despite the Labour Manifesto in 1997 containing
a pledge to extend the Act to outlaw all ticket touting, the only
extension that has taken place is that touting for the 2012 Olympic
Games has been made unlawful. However, this in our view is not
sufficient—and indeed exposes clear and unfair anomalies!
It is clearly inappropriate that the unauthorised sale of tickets
for the tennis event at the Olympics in 2012, to be held at Wimbledon,
should be a criminal offence—but that it should not be an
offence to "tout" tickets for the principal Wimbledon
Championships held at the same venue less than a month previously!
We believe there is a strong case for extending
(or adapting) the current law to cover other major designated
sporting events.
— The framework of the legislation
is there and adequately deals with modern exploitative forms of
ticket distribution.
— It is right and proper that other
major sporting events in the UK, which attract major international
attention and are of importance to the national reputation and
heritage, should benefit from the same legislative framework.
— Certain sporting events are recognised
as being of major national importance (for instance, those designated
as "listed events" under current broadcasting legislation).
It seems entirely appropriate and consistent that it should be
an offence to "tout" tickets for designated nationally
important events—and thus support the policy of those sporting
events where they aim to ensure that tickets remain accessible
to the intended categories of the public through a "fair"
allocation system.
We strongly encourage the Government to adopt
similar legislation for major sporting events designated by the
Secretary of State. We would, of course, expect and advocate that
the Wimbledon Championships should be such a designated event.
This submission is made on behalf of the All
England Lawn Tennis Club. It has the full support of the Lawn
Tennis Association. Since your Committee's hearing will be held
during The Championships, no member of the Club's Committee will
be available to attend—although the Club's lawyer, Nick
Bitel of Max Bitel Greene, will be available.
Further information on Wimbledon's ticketing
policies may be found on www.wimbledon.org.uk.
June 2007
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