Every major sports league distributes tickets through a hierarchy. Understanding where you sit in that hierarchy tells you which route to take.
Tier 1 (first priority): Season ticket holders. These are the same seats, same faces, every home game. At the Premier League's most popular clubs, season ticket waiting lists run into the tens of thousands.
Tier 2: Club members. Most clubs offer paid annual membership (£20 to £50 per year) that gives access to ticket ballots or sales before the general public. This is the most accessible route for casual visitors.
Tier 3: Corporate hospitality. A fixed allocation at every match goes to corporate buyers at two to ten times face value. These seats are available to anyone with the budget.
Tier 4: Away allocation. A fixed percentage of seats at every match goes to the visiting team's supporters. Away tickets go to members of the visiting club's supporter scheme.
Tier 5: General sale. Whatever remains after the above allocations. At popular clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham), general sale is often empty by the time it opens.
Matches you can attend without a membership: Lower-mid table clubs with smaller supporter bases (Crystal Palace, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Leicester) regularly have tickets available in general sale for most home matches. Prices: £25 to £65 depending on category and opposition.
Matches where you need membership: Top-six clubs against any opponent below the top half of the table see their general sale allocation disappear within hours. A club membership (£20 to £50 per year) gives you ballot or priority sale access.
Matches where only hospitality remains: Derbies, top-six versus top-six, and matches with local rivalry significance (North London Derby, Manchester Derby, Merseyside Derby) sell out at every tier except hospitality almost instantly.
Enter the sport and ticket platform to get a clear summary of the cancellation, postponement and refund rules that apply to your specific ticket purchase. Know your rights before you need them.
Get Sports Ticket Refund GuideFind Match ScheduleNBA tickets are among the easiest major professional sports tickets to obtain compared to Premier League or NFL. Most regular season games have available seats through official channels up to the day of the game.
Official platform: NBA.com links to Ticketmaster for all team ticket sales.
Price range by market:
Best value approach: Buy 7 to 14 days before the game when primary market pricing is fully available. For sold-out games, secondary market prices often fall 20% to 30% in the 24 hours before tipoff.
NFL London games at Wembley and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are the most accessible NFL matches for UK fans. Five to six regular season games per year take place in London with standard retail pricing.
Official platform: NFL UK (nfl.com/international) and Ticketmaster UK. London games sell through Ticketmaster with a general sale available to UK residents without US fan club membership.
Pricing: £45 to £195 for most seating categories. Premium hospitality from £350.
Resale: StubHub and Viagogo operate for all NFL games. London games typically do not sell out completely at face value, meaning secondary market prices stay close to or below face value in the weeks before the game.
US games: For games in the USA, the NFL's official secondary market platform (NFL Ticket Exchange on Ticketmaster) provides fan-to-fan resale with buyer protection.
Six Nations: Each participating union (England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy) controls its own ticket allocation. England's matches at Twickenham go through England Rugby (englandrugby.com). France's matches at Stade de France go through FFR (ffr.fr).
For away allocations (e.g., English fans wanting to attend the France vs England match in Paris), register with the England Rugby supporters club. England Rugby allocates away tickets to registered members in priority order.
Rugby World Cup: World Rugby controls the allocation centrally. Tickets go through an official ballot system opening 18 to 24 months before the tournament. For the 2027 Rugby World Cup (Australia), the ballot system opened at rugbyworldcup.com with priority phases for union members.
International test matches and ODIs: England Cricket Board (ecb.co.uk) controls England home matches. Australia Cricket (cricket.com.au) controls Australian home matches. Join the ECB or CA supporter programme for ballot and priority access.
County cricket: County Championship matches at grounds including Lord's, The Oval, Headingley and Edgbaston are available to the general public at £15 to £30 per day with no advance booking required in most cases. County cricket provides excellent access to live cricket without the sold-out pressure of international fixtures.
Do not accept PDF screenshots for high-value sports tickets. The photo-ID matching systems at major Premier League, cricket and rugby grounds are specifically designed to prevent screenshot resale fraud.