The BBC handed 421 Wimbledon tickets to its own staff and scores of business and PR executives last month.
New figures obtained by Heat Street under Freedom of Information laws show that the tickets were in effect given away courtesy of licence fee payers – most of whom would not have had the time or money to attend the tennis competition themselves.
Watch the moment Andy Murray became #Wimbledon champion for the second time. https://t.co/P8ayBrLt3B pic.twitter.com/TRrt2RD91U
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 10, 2016
Every ticket was either for Centre Court or Number 1 court. In total they would have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds on the open market. The BBC receives the tickets as part of the estimated £20 million pound-per year deal it has to broadcast the championships.
Two MPs – Labour’s Barbara Keeley and Conservative Ranil Jayawardena – also accepted a free pass, though neither politician has yet declared doing so to House of Commons authorities.
Highly-paid senior managers from some of the world’s best known companies including Facebook, BT Sport, Manchester United and Chelsea FC were among other beneficiaries.
But it is the fact that 224 of the tickets were scooped up by BBC employees that is likely to grate most.
Lucky recipients of freebies included BBC radio boss Helen Boaden, who is paid £352,900 per year; BBC News boss James Harding, who is paid £340,000 per year; and BBC strategy chief James Purnell, who is paid £295,000 per year.
The trio were among 32 senior BBC staff who provided corporate entertainment to representatives from a wide range of companies.
Heather Watson serves the first ace!
Could there be a more smiley doubles pair?#Wimbledon https://t.co/aA6tRwDtK3 pic.twitter.com/3DICU7CBF5
— BBC Tennis (@bbctennis) July 10, 2016
Harding and Purnell both helped themselves to plum Centre Court seats on Men’s Finals Day, when Andy Murray beat Milos Raonic.
A further 42 BBC staff were given free tickets as a reward for “excellence at work”.
And 150 BBC employees were given a ticket in exchange for making a donation to charity.
However, citing “personal information”, the BBC refused to say how much each donation was for or to which charity it was made.
Amazingly, the broadcaster did admit its guests were allowed to give their tickets to friends or colleagues – raising the possibility they could have found their way into the hands of black-market touts.
Critics blasted the BBC for the mass giveaway.
A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “The licence fee takes a significant chunk out of the annual family budget so most people – including other BBC staff – will find it unfair to learn that a select few corporation employees got to enjoy these free tickets.
“Instead of rewarding already well paid staff, the BBC ought instead to be thinking of more deserving recipients for its allocation or, better still, making more of these much sought after tickets available to the tennis-loving public.
A BBC spokesman said: “As is standard practice, the BBC uses some of its complimentary tickets for business purposes – at no cost to the licence fee payer.
“They are given to partners with whom BBC Sport works, across all the events we cover, as an opportunity to discuss further business, and demonstrate first hand one of the biggest events that BBC Sport delivers.”
These are the names of the attendees the BBC was willing to publish. The identities of the others have been withheld:
