Fans attending Sunday’s NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns in London faced long lines and delays at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after widespread issues with the league’s OnePass mobile ticketing app — and Ticketmaster is now issuing partial refunds to some who were affected.
According to multiple reports and social media posts, the OnePass app, which serves as the primary ticketing platform for the NFL’s international series, suffered major glitches ahead of the 2:30 p.m. local kickoff. The problems left thousands of fans stranded outside as stadium staff scrambled to verify entries manually.
While the announced attendance of 61,082 was near the venue’s 62,850 capacity, many attendees said they missed part of the first quarter due to the digital logjam.
Ticketmaster, which was handling the ticketing for the event through the OnePass system, has since begun offering some affected fans a 50% refund in the form of a Ticketmaster gift card, according to emails shared by attendees.
“We’d like to sincerely apologise for the difficulties some fans experienced when entering Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for today’s NFL London Game,” reads a Ticketmaster message sent to some ticketholders. “The experience fell short of our standards and the service we aim to deliver on behalf of the NFL… We would like to offer you a gift card to the value of 50% of the impacted ticket(s).”
It remains unclear how many fans are receiving the partial credit, and some ticket holders who experienced minimal disruption say they have not been contacted.
Ticketmaster released a statement Sunday night acknowledging the problem:
“Ahead of today’s game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a number of NFL fans experienced delays entering the stadium due to a ticketing issue… Ticketmaster, the NFL and Tottenham Hotspur were able to verify ticketholders using a secondary form of verification. The situation was addressed as efficiently as possible and all fans entered the stadium safely.”
The fiasco marks an embarrassing moment for the league’s growing international slate, which relies heavily on mobile ticketing. The Vikings-Browns matchup was the first of three straight London games, with the Broncos facing the Jets at Tottenham this Sunday and the Rams meeting the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on October 19.
