By R.L. Bynum
If you got sticker shock when you saw the ticket prices in April for the Chelsea FC-Wrexham AFC friendly at Kenan Stadium, you might find tickets more in your price range on secondary markets.
Even with prices before fees ranging from $60 to $650 in late April, tickets for next week’s match, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19, sold out in four days.
In a rare dynamic for a sold-out event, you can buy tickets on secondary markets for less than the lowest price available when tickets went on sale in April. There appear to be no deals on premium seating, though, and parking will still be expensive.
If you miss seeing natural grass at the stadium, here’s your chance since a temporary grass field will be in place for the game. Work on that installation will be done this week on Wednesday and Thursday.
Here’s a sample of the tickets available (as of Monday, with all prices before fees):
— On StubHub, available tickets range from $33 for upper-deck tickets to field seating for $1,620, but there are plenty of tickets for less than $60.
— On Ticketmaster, available tickets range from $49 to $256, with several tickets less than $60.
— On SeatGeek, tickets range from $40 for upper-deck seats to $900 for premium sets, with plenty of tickets for less than $60.
— On Vividseats, there are upper-deck tickets for $35, dozens of tickets for less than $60 and premium seating for $575.
If you don’t want to pay a lot to park, your best bets are the park-and-ride lots downtown, at Southern Village and the Friday Center for $5.
The next level is $40, with parking areas that include the hospital decks, Park Place and the Raleigh Road visitors lot. For $60, you can park closer to the stadium in lots such as the Rams Head Deck, the Craig Deck and the Bowles Lot.
The teams will have a training session at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, at WakeMed Soccer Park, and tickets are available ranging from $15 to $150.
Both clubs have a rich history. Founded in 1905, Chelsea is London’s most central football club, based at the iconic 41,000-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium. Wrexham is a historic Welsh club founded in 1864, one of the oldest football clubs in the world.
The Chapel Hill match is the first of five in the United States this summer for Chelsea, with the rest played at NFL stadiums. The Blues meet Brighton on July 22 in Philadelphia, Newcastle United on July 26 in Atlanta and Fulham on July 30 in suburban Washington.
Wrexham will play three other matches, all at MLS stadiums. The Red Dragons play July 22 in Los Angeles against L.A. Galaxy II, July 26 in San Diego against Manchester United and July 28 in Philadelphia against Philadelphia Union II.
Photo via @ChelseaFC
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