Using Freedom of Information requests, The Sun uncovered that the BBC gave out free tickets, including two sets of tickets, one for the England versus West Indies test in May and one for England against Australia in July, to Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose.
Celebrities given free tickets to Wimbledon included Adrian Chiles, presenter of 'The One Show', and comedians Michael McIntyre and Alan Davies.
Stars who took advantage of tickets for cricket included Allen, Radcliffe and 'Lewis' and 'Inspector Morse' actor Kevin Whately.
The BBC told Brand Republic: "These tickets are included in the BBC's broadcast rights contract for the tournaments and so no additional cost to the licence fee payer was incurred.
"The recipients were not provided with any food, transport or accommodation by the BBC and no corporate hospitality was provided at sporting events in 2009."
Other events the BBC gave out tickets for included the Six Nations rugby, Anglo Welsh cup games, the Wembley game between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in October and the PGA championship in May.
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