BTS began their North αмєяι¢αn tour last month, kicking things off with concerts in Tampa, which drew 190,000 attendees over the course of three days. After leading the global ARMY community in singing along to Arirang, BTS continued bringing the heat to мєχι¢σ City — the city ranked as having the highest number of BTS listeners on Spotify.

Ahead of their first performance, BTS held a warm conversation with Claudia Sheinbaum and met with 50,000 fans who packed the Zócalo square on May 6, offering a glimpse of just how mαѕѕive the event would be.

On May 7, ARMY’s enthusiasm was fully on display as fans from all over flocked to Estadio GNP Seguros, cheering loudly and chanting the members’ names for half an hour before the superstars even stepped on stage. However, in stark contrast to the electric atmosphere filling the stadium, many fans attending the concert quickly noticed soмєтнing unusual: numerous seats remained empty even as showtime drew near.

According to fans at the venue, around 30 minutes before the concert began, several seating sections were still unoccupied. At first, some ARMY αѕѕumed that au∂ιєnces simply had not entered the stadium yet. However, even just seven minutes before the concert started — and right up until showtime — multiple rows of seats remained completely empty. Each section reportedly contained around 15–20 unsold seats, leaving many attendees ѕнσ¢кed.

What made the situation even more puzzling was that local media had previously reported that demand for BTS concerts in мєχι¢σ had reached “record-breaking levels.” During the ARMY membership presale on January 23, Ticketmaster recorded as many as 1.1 million concurrent users entering the virtual waiting room in мєχι¢σ alone. Tickets for BTS’s May 7 and May 9 concerts at Estadio GNP Seguros sold out in just 37 minutes. Fans from more than 1,300 cities worldwide — including Lima, Bogotá, Santiago, California, and Texas — also joined the ticket rush, not just local fans.

Meanwhile, outside the stadium, large crowds of fans carrying ARMY Bombs and local residents gathered to sing along and cheer for BTS. Some even climbed trees and nearby infrastructure just to catch a glimpse or hear a small part of the concert from inside the venue, further proving that demand remained extremely high.

In fact, the real reason behind these empty seats was not a lack of interest from fans. Instead, it stemmed from resellers and ticket scalpers hoarding mαѕѕive quantities of tickets that they ultimately failed to sell due to exorbitant prices.

Back in January, just hours after the presale ended, Mexican ARMY discovered that more than half of the tickets had already appeared on resale platforms at “outrageous” prices. This effectively shut tens of thousands of genuine fans out of the opportunity to attend the concert from the very beginning. The so-called “sold out” status, in reality, reflected ticket manipulation and scalping rather than actual fan demand being fulfilled.

Fans also suspected that Ticketmaster itself may have been involved in unfair ticket-selling practices, with accusations claiming that box offices or resellers were granted early access before fans could even enter the presale. Since January, a large-scale complaint campaign accusing Ticketmaster of unfair ticket sales was quickly submitted to PROFECO. According to reports, around 5,000 complaints were filed, stating: “It is not fair that ‘sold out’ is celebrated when it actually represents exclusion, abuse, and speculation.”

Although PROFECO and the Mexican authorities issued responses, the problem has not truly been resolved at its root. Many ARMY were still willing to spend enormous amounts of money on resale tickets because they believed the chance to see BTS might come only once in a lifetime. Nevertheless, the overwhelming number of tickets hoarded by scalpers ultimately resulted in many seats remaining empty during the very first night of the concert. Meanwhile, countless fans were forced to remain outside the stadium, and many ARMY were seen crying because they could not obtain even a single official ticket.

This situation has left both local ARMY and international fans increasingly furious, with many angrily commenting:

- Like 20 seats together and free, it's obvious that it's not due to an external problem, they're seats x resellers. F*ck those greedy resellers, those d*mn cheapskates

- D*mn scalpers, those seats could’ve gone to someone else. But the silver lining is that the resellers got stuck with them, and people didn't buy them at those sky-high prices despite wanting to be there so badly

- Personally, I’d rather see this happen than let those rats (scalpers) profit from the fans' affection for the members

- I'm glad because that means ARMY didn't support the reselling and in the end it wasn't profitable for the resellers. So they'll think twice before trying to do business with them

- It makes me sad for the army, but it's good that they kept them and anyway BTS kept the money hahahaha

- Man, I’m so pissed but happy at the same time. Pissed because BTS will see those empty seats and they robbed us of the chance to go, but happy because those starving-for-money scalpers didn't sell a single thing, for real

- Those absolute sons of btches, I’m seriously fcking livid. So many ARMYs are outside without tickets because they were supposedly 'sold out,' yet there’s all this empty space. They’re seriously out of their minds. I don’t have a ticket either—I hate those greedy вαѕтαя∂s

- What happened @Ticketmaster_Me @ocesa_kpop? Didn't you say there was nothing left? Didn't you say it was all sold out? You are absolute pieces of sht. Fcking filthy thieves

- So many people outside the GNP Seguros Stadium in мєχι¢σ City to listen to the first night of BTS's concert. Poor them. Pray that these people will be able to attend the next series of BTS concerts