StubHub sold ‘ghost tickets’ for World Cup months before real ones were issued, CBC finds

The resale heavyweight is veneer a force of arguing and calls for stricter regulation over what’s known as “speculative ticketing” after the company stranded thousands of soccer fans, cancelling ticket orders just hours before game time when deals with sellers fell through.

“We're calling for governments to pay attention,” said Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), the live industry association for the United States. He’s written Congress calling for a ban on scalper speculation.

“You cannot sell a car that you don't own. You can't sell a house that you do not own.… If you take money for something and then don't deliver it, that's fraud.”

StubHub World Cup ticket cancellations prompt calls for investigations, legal action

StubHub, a global resale marketplace used by casual resellers and professional mass scalpers, has declined requests for an interview.

“StubHub does not allow speculative tickets, period,” he wrote.

But in a statement Thursday, the company said its sellers often post tickets they’ve been promised but don’t yet have in-hand.

Multiple social media posts show what appear to be StubHub advertisements for 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets as early as August 2024 — a year before FIFA’s official release.

Jeremy Wright of Austin, Texas, bought his pair Sept. 3, 2025, as a Christmas gift for his wife, a week before FIFA’s official release.

They drove four hours to Houston only to be stiffed while waiting outside the stadium.

‘I bought ghost tickets,’ says World Cup fan

He attributes the ticket cancellations to speculative ticketing.

“Speculators … will start selling tickets that they don't have on platforms like StubHub and the expectation is that they can buy the tickets later and fill the order,” Wright explained.

“The World Cup didn't work out that way for them. Ticket prices kept going up and lots of these sellers just never bought the tickets, never filled the orders.”

Wright has since filed formal complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Texas Attorney General, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

StubHub cancels thousands of World Cup tickets, leaving fans furious and heartbroken

Brad Michel of San Antonio, Texas, placed his order on StubHub on Jan. 5, 2025 — nine months before FIFA began issuing actual tickets.

He paid $15,654 US for what he thought were three prime, mid-field seats for a Netherlands versus Sweden match in Houston.

His tickets claimed to be Section 104, but lacked any seat or row numbers.

He planned to bring his son and fly in his father-in-law who is from Sweden.

“I think they sold the tickets to someone else for a higher price point than what I originally paid. [That’s] what I think. It's kind of a bait and switch.”

StubHub failed to deliver and offered “nosebleed” seats as replacements, he said.

Michel refused, watched the game on TV instead at the Airbnb they had rented, and is now fighting for a refund.

StubHub has not answered direct questions about whether World Cup tickets on its site were sold “on spec.” The company said in its statement that resellers can buy special “guaranteed access” packages in advance of major events and are promised allotments of seats which they can post for sale so long as they have a “path to obtaining” real tickets in the end.

Artist manager Randy Nichols, an advocate for ticket reforms, tested StubHub’s platform last May by pretending to list imaginary tickets for resale.

“I recently, before World Cup tickets were even on sale to the general public, was able to list and put tickets up for sale within seconds.”

Posting tickets on StubHub too easy, industry advocate says

StubHub didn’t ask for a real ticket, or require a row or seat number. The company simply asked for a credit card and for the seller to check a box attesting that “I agree to StubHub's Terms and Conditions. I confirm I own these tickets or have the right to be issued these tickets.”

StubHub has nearly 100 Super Bowl seats on offer. There are more than 200 posted on both Vivid Seats and Tickets On Sale — most without assigned seat or row numbers. One pair on StubHub for $10,526 US is listed simply as “Upper Endzone” — which doesn’t actually exist as a section on the stadium seat map.

StubHub, in its statement, said sellers listing Super Bowl tickets may have received promises of future tickets through purchased allotments or season ticket holder agreements even if they don’t have assigned seats.

“This is standard practice across the entire Super Bowl ticketing market — other marketplaces like Vivid Seats are also listing 2027 Super Bowl tickets now — and is not unique to StubHub.”

“Our Seat Saver program [is] a service where the seller has offered to procure tickets for the customer,” she wrote in an email.

“You cart your selections; we’ll handle the shopping,” proclaims the company website.

SeatGeek, an official ticketing partner with the National Football League, has no advance seats for resale for the Super Bowl.

The World Cup fiasco has prompted calls for government action and enforcement to combat speculative ticketing.

Stephen Parker of NIVA and the Fan Alliance wrote a joint letter June 18 to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson urging lawmakers “to ban the sale of fake, or ‘ghost,’ tickets and enact ticket price gouging protections for all resale tickets sold in the U.S.”

He points to the World Cup held in Qatar four years ago where a resale price cap was imposed.

“If the United States had [a resale price cap], if Canada had that. I don't think we'd be seeing the issues that we're seeing right now.”

Ban scalping to prevent ticketing fiascos, watchdog says

Keldon Bester of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly project says authorities need to step up enforcement.

“The fix has to include stronger competition and consumer protection enforcement, clearer rules against deceptive conduct, and real accountability for platforms that profit from these transactions," Bester said in an email.

Jeremy Wright of Austin, Texas — for whom StubHub provided replacement tickets in the end — says there need to be laws to ban speculation.

“There clearly needs to be some legislation against selling these ghost tickets,” he said, despite StubHub’s attempts to make amends. €œIt's egregious that StubHub was selling tickets that didn't exist.”

B.C. Launches probe into StubHub over World Cup resale ticket fiasco

Soccer fans file class-action lawsuit against StubHub over cancelled World Cup tickets

In Canada, British Columbia (which has launched a probe into the StubHub World Cup ticketing fiasco) and Ontario both have laws that explicitly ban speculative ticketing.

In the U.S. There is no federal ban. However, Nevada (2017), Maryland, Minnesota, Arizona (2024), and Oregon, Vermont, Illinois (2026) have all passed legislation outlawing the practice.

California is currently considering such a ban.

StubHub is on record as opposing California Bill AB 1349, and is helping to fund an advertising campaign to defeat the measure.

Dave Seglins is an investigative journalist whose recent work includes exposés on global ticket scalping, offshore tax avoidance and government surveillance. He covers a range of domestic and international issues, including rail safety, policing, government and corporate corruption.

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