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Ticket Resale Price Caps: Unintended Consequences for Sports Fans?
A government consultation on live event ticket resales, launched in January 2025 in response to inflated prices, has concluded. While aiming to protect consumers from ticket touts by capping resale prices, a new analysis suggests this approach could backfire, reducing ticket availability and harming the live events sector.
The consultation explored various aspects, including the prevalence of ticket touts, challenges faced by fans in buying and reselling tickets, and the roles of online platforms. Policy interventions are now under consideration following the closure of consultation.
Research from the Center for economics and Business Research (CEBR) indicates that capping resale prices may lead to fewer tickets being resold, increased empty seats at events, and significant economic damage to the live events industry.
The Economic Impact of Price Caps
The CEBR estimates that a 25-per-cent increase in unsold tickets could cost the UK economy £183 million. In 2024, 77.7 million fans attended sporting events in the UK, putting this potential loss into perspective.
To illustrate the magnitude of this £183 million figure, it could have fully funded Team GB’s entire Paris 2024 Olympic campaign with money left over. It surpasses the total transfer spending of the entire EFL Championship in a typical season, equals selling out Wembley 10 times at £90 per ticket, and represents three-quarters of Sport England’s annual budget for promoting sports and physical activity.
Previous CEBR research revealed that secondary market ticket buyers spend an average of £629 on ancillary goods and services, including travel, food, and accommodation. Price caps that result in more empty seats would eliminate this associated spending.
Given the potential impact on British sport, it is indeed crucial to consider the broader implications.
how Price Caps Affect Ticket Resales
Primary ticket markets balance revenue goals with demand uncertainty and reputational risk, often leading to primary prices that are lower than the market would bear. This attracts bots and professional sellers who target online sales for high-demand events.
Secondary markets, conversely, operate on supply and demand, causing resale prices to fluctuate above or below face value.
While inflated resale prices are a concern, the CEBR’s findings outline five ways in which resale price caps could decrease the number of tickets resold:
- Reduced incentive to resell: Individuals unable to attend an event may not resell tickets if the capped price doesn’t justify the effort.
- Decreased motivation to attend: Uncapped markets reflect an event’s value through resale prices. Caps undermine this signal, increasing the likelihood of tickets ending up with less committed fans who are more likely to be no-shows.
- Unregulated sales: Resale caps may drive buyers and sellers to unofficial platforms like social media or messaging apps, making ticket transfers riskier and more complex, potentially leading to unused tickets due to fraud or failed transfers.
- Platform constraints and exit risks: Platforms not selling primary tickets may struggle to verify face value, hindering their ability to comply with caps. This could force some resale platforms to leave the UK market, reducing safe resale options and overall resale volume.
- Price floors and unsold inventory: Some platforms, especially those linked to primary sellers, enforce minimum resale prices. If a resale price is both capped and floored and doesn’t reflect actual demand
