The NFL began selling tickets to its 2025 London games on Thursday. It has not gone well.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, the NFL’s U.K and Ireland Twitter account posted this: “Due to exceptionally high demand for NFL London Games tickets, Ticketmaster has temporarily paused sales to monitor the queue and ensure genuine fans are able to purchase tickets. Your place in the queue is secure and there are still tickets available. We understand how frustrating this is and appreciate your patience.”
The mention of “genuine fans” is a reference to the infiltration of resellers and their bots. Based on some of the anecdotal evidence posted on social media, it appears that some believe the bots are still gobbling up tickets and putting them up for sale even when the queue for the “genuine fans” is paused.
We tried to enter the queue. The wait time is “more than an hour,” with 247,734 people already in line.
“Our tech teams spotted bad actors and we are working to keep them out,” the message explains. (Sorry, Dolph Lundgren.)
It’s become a staple of efforts to get tickets to high-profile events. The bots swarm the face-value tickets, and the “genuine fans” have to spend much more than the price printed on the non-printed ticket by buying access through a reseller.
Like, you know, Ticketmaster.
