Interesting Fact - Wimbledon Fact - Money

Tickets for the Men's Final at Wimbledon were changing hands for £71,000 a pair, over 165 times the face value!


(I was surprised to hear this, as I had been told you weren't allowed to resell tickets, but seemingly greedy ticket touting is still a problem at Wimbledon, as debenture holders are allowed to resell their seats, only 'ordinary' ticket holders are forbidden from doing so.

In finance a debenture is an unsecured loan certificate issued by a company, backed by general credit rather than by specified assets, but a large number of sporting organisations issue debentures to raise money.  Wimbledon Debentures are issued by The All England Club every five years to raise funds for capital expenditure. A similar program of debentures is also in place for No. 1 Court.

The Centre Court debentures cover periods of five years. Each Debenture Holder automatically receives one Centre Court ticket for every day of The Lawn Tennis Championships during the relevant period. Debenture Holders also receive a pass to the Centre Court Debenture Holders' Facilities Building and have the right to enter a ballot for a car parking space (available for an additional fee).

So, all the real tennis fans have to queue and wait, and hope to get a ticket, but those in the know can make a big fat profit.)


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