Premier League clubs are letting foreign touts resell tickets at up to seven times face value, a Sunday Mirror investigation has revealed.
We found hospitality tickets for the Man United game against Everton next Saturday at £896.25 – marked up from £128.
They were on StubHub, a secondary ticketing site. United and Man City are among clubs who have deals allowing US firms to buy seats and sell them on.
All tickets we looked at as part of our Out The Touts campaign were listed by three brokers with an average face value of £120 but a typical resale of £418.
Two of the brokers are from the US. One, Dynasty Sports and Entertainment, had the £896 tickets and it is believed the company has signed deals with both Manchester clubs.
The other was Ticket Galaxy, whose chief Don Vaccaro also owns Ticket Network – said to have netted almost £100million last year.
A third, Sport and Music, also on StubHub, is run by Michael Meadowcraft.
The Brit was banned from being a company director for eight years after his firm London Sport Ltd sold 1998 World Cup tickets – without buying them first.
The general resale of tickets was banned in 1994 to stop rival fans mixing.
Ticketing expert Reg Walker said: “The secondary sites appear not to care who they sell to.”
A spokesman for Ticket Galaxy said: “We are proud to be an approved reseller of Man Utd and we’re committed to providing outstanding service.”
StubHub said: “All sellers are authorised by the club.”
Michael Meadowcroft said: “The consumer has the choice whether they wish to purchase.”
Man United, Man City and Dynasty did not comment.