Confusion over 2019 Worlds finals ticket sale times, fans upset

William Davis Published 16/09/2019

Riot Games is facing backlash after a mishap in the sale time of the tickets for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals.

The original announcement posted on August 26 stated that the tickets would go on sale on September 16 at 4pm CET, with prices ranging from €40 to €80 plus additional fees.

The tickets were supposed to go on sale through Accor Hotels Arena’s website. Instead, a wave of tickets went online at 2pm CEST through Ticketmaster and a second wave went on sale at 4pm CEST, one hour before the designated time. As a result, the tickets were completely sold out in less than an hour.

According to Anton Ferraro, manager of global esports communications at Riot Games, the tickets sold through Ticketmaster only represented a small portion and were meant for Riot’s partners. Apparently, the URL intended for the partners was leaked and the public got access to those tickets. Ticketmaster didn’t have any type of identity check in place, so anyone with access to the URL could purchase as many tickets as they wanted.

On Reddit, the community reported that getting tickets through Accor Hotels Arena’s website was impossible. According to the testimonies, people joined the queue at 3:45pm CEST and waited for more than an hour to access the site. One redditor said that they got access at 4:05pm CEST and everything was already sold out.

The tickets ended up on multiple ticket resale websites, where they’re going for over €300. One website is selling platinum tickets for over €400, and on other sites the prices go up to $2,000 per ticket.

The community is not taking the issue lightly. Some fans are asking Riot Games to recall the tickets and start the process over, which is unlikely to happen. Others are blaming Ticketmaster directly, alleging that the website is associated with other resale sites so they profit twice if the tickets go through a reselling site after the original sales are made.

At the time of this publication, Riot Games has not further addressed the issue.

Read Also

Esports Betting

Gen.G vs HLE: Best betting odds and picks for LCK 2026 grand final Hannan Mundia The 2026 LCK grand final will see HLE challenge Gen.G to determine which team walks away with the first-place prize, giving the winning team a much-needed confidence boost before the World Championship. After every top professional Korean League of Legends team has poured sweat and time, this year’s LCK split is finally about to conclude. The grand final match will be between the powerhouse team Gen.G and the challenging Hanwha ...

Esports Betting

Here Are My Predictions For The Hanwha Life Esports vs T1 LCK Lower Final Ben Boland LCK fans are in for a treat as Hanwha Life Esports and T1 both battle for a ticket to the grand final, where Gen.G awaits. The last time these two met, they tore the house down. I expect more of the same this time in the lower final. Here are the best bets to make on HLE vs T1 in the LCK 2026 Summer Playoffs Lower Final at GG.BET, one ...

League of Legends

Riot Games eyes Polymarket and Kalshi for esports sponsorships Michael Hassall Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends and VALORANT is reportedly exploring the protentional of sponsorship deals with prediction market operators including Polymarket and Kalshi, as per reports emerging late last night (Sep. 10). First reported by Cecilia D’Anastasio of Bloomberg, Riot has started conversations with the two top prediction market operators, Kalshi and Polymarket, with a view to one or both of them becoming sponsors within Riot Games’ ...

Esports Betting

HLE vs T1: Best Betting Odds and Picks for LCK 2026 Playoffs Hannan Mundia HLE and T1 will duke it out in the 2026 LCK Playoffs lower bracket final, but which team has a better chance of facing Gen.G in the grand final? This year’s LCK season has been filled with ups and downs. In particular, the top three teams have constantly struggled against each other, but Gen.G managed to get ahead of the fray in the end. Now, HLE and T1 will face ...

Esports Betting

Bet Tips and Predictions For Team Vitality vs MKOI LEC Summer Playoffs Ben Boland The LEC playoffs are well underway, and we have Team Vitality taking on MKOI in a do-or-die series. Lose here, and your chances of qualifying for Worlds 2026 go up in smoke. With Vitality getting dismantled by G2 Esports in their opening series, it begs the question whether it was just the G2 playoffs magic, or Vitality are not the team we thought they were. Let’s take a look at ...

Esports Betting

LCS Playoffs Round 1 Best Bets: Will C9 Falter? Ben Boland The LCS Summer regular season has finally come to a close and six teams will now do battle over the next few weeks with the hope of representing their region at the 2026 League of Legends World Championship. The first round of playoffs is expected to set the tone for what is to be an exciting conclusion to the return of the LCS. Cloud9 and Shopify do battle once again, ...

Esports Betting

The Best LCS Summer Split Week 7 Odds: Upsets On The Horizon? Ben Boland The LoL betting world is in for a treat this weekend as the LCS Summer Split regular season enters its final week. Everything is to play for, from the battle for first place to who starts life in the upper bracket. Esports betting sites are unsurprisingly covering the games extensively, and here my tips to bet on for each LCS match this weekend. This is a series that could go ...