Those investing in Wimbledon’s VIP seats have quite the advantage at the Grand Slam tournament.
The owners of Wimbledon’s debentures, the nickname given to the guaranteed VIP seats at the Centre Court or No. 1 Court that a person can own for five years, are starting to sell their tickets—and are making quite a pretty penny on their perches. Seats for Wimbledon matches from 2026 to 2030 are generating a profit of about 75 percent, with debentures going for over $275,000 (£200,000) when the final payment installment is added in, Bloomberg reported. The tickets in that time period went on sale last year for about $158,000 (£116,000).
The reason for the explosion is due to a rapidly increasing demand from folks across the pond from the famed tennis competition.
“You get tennis fans coming to Wimbledon as the mecca of tennis from all over the world, particularly the U.S.,” Alex Cheatle, CEO of Ten Lifestyle Group Plc., which helps the UHNW get their own debentures, told Bloomberg.
It’s easy to see why the tickets are such a hot commodity. In addition to securing access to the best seats at Wimbledon (they can be on par with the Royal Box where the monarchy and other famed guests are seated), those who hold debentures gain VIP entry to lounges and restaurants. Centre Court alone has a mere 2,520, compared to its about 15,000-person capacity; No. 1 Court, meanwhile, offers up 1,250 out of its 12,300 seats to the debenture merry-go-round. The debentures are also the only exchangeable tickets offered at Wimbledon, meaning holders can easily sell them off when they cannot attend. And now the sought-after tickets (which are regulated similar to a bond) come with yet another bonus: being a rather decent profit generator.
Just ask one avid tennis fan. For their Centre Court debenture starting next year, they already splashed down the cash for their first two payments. They then pivoted to selling their guaranteed seat, which earned them a 121 percent profit, for a total of about $218,000 (£160,000), Dowgate Capital’s Tim Webb told Bloomberg. And the buyer still needed to pay the last installment toward the debenture, which would put them over the $270,000 (£200,000) spend mark.
Of course, the idea of a debenture isn’t exactly a new concept. The VIP seats came to fruition over a century ago, when they were sold in 1920. At the time, the funds generated from the sales, about $136,000 (£100,000), went toward the creation of the Centre Court, according to Bloomberg. Over the decades, the debentures have covered costs of projects such as retractable roofs and new courts. Today, Wimbledon predicts it will generate nearly $100 million (£74 million) on debentures for No. 1 Court in its most recent sale. Those funds, in a way, are going right back to buyers, with part of the profits earmarked for special areas that the only the guaranteed seat owners can use.
The booming debenture market fits into an exploding sports market in general, Bloomberg reported. As of late, ticket prices for athletic events in general have hit new highs. Admission into Super Bowl LVIII was the highest on record, with the average price per ticket sitting at $9,804. Even gear from sports stars can generate a frenzy: Roger Federer’s 2004 Wimbledon racket sold for over $100,000 at auction earlier this year—who knows, maybe it was snagged by a tennis lover who sold off their debenture.
