Olympics and open seats

[MyWorld]

It seems that the Olympics committee and Fifa have some real hard decisions to make regarding the future of these events (Olympics and SWC).

When the SWC was here there were complaints of ticket prices and empty seats at all the venues, when in fact it was advertised as sold out. Corporate sponsored tickets were never used or being sold off at ridiculous prices, and it seems the same is happening now at the Olympics in the UK.
There have been reports of the first few days where the seats were so empty that it seemed no one showed for the events.

On the other hand where people did not need expensive tickets reporters had trouble getting to the action due to the mass crowds (cycling and other outdoor items). Most tickets that are unused (and incidentally all those empty seats I mentioned were also marked as "sold out") are "corporate tickets", sponsored tickets. Take the tennis on atm, almost half the stadium is empty, compare that to Wimbledon and see the problem.

They showed some water sports just now and you can only see a handful of people in the cheap seats miles away from the action, the rest is taken up by competitors and coaches.

Seems like they need to rethink their strategy on tickets, prices and sponsoring tickets in the future.

[Freaksta]

Yea, I see the same it's quite sad! Not really sure what can be done but limiting the corperate tickets to certain areas and numbers..

[chrisc4290]

I had planned for 5 years to go to the London Olympics and stay with my daughter in London. Despite trying many times, myself, the travel agent and my daughter, we could not get any tickets for events that I wanted to see. Even opening ceremony was over subscribed, at £2000 a pop. Now I see swimming, table-tennis and gymnastic events that I wanted to see, with lots of empty seats! The ticket lottery for people living outside the UK was a waste of time. I received no replies at all to any enquiries.

It seems you have to know someone in order to buy tickets. The only one I managed to get (was offered) was the ParaOlympics where Oscar Pistorius is competing, but I am not shelling out R 50 000 to go and see him.

Right now I am cultivating someone in Rio de Janiero for tickets for the 2016 games. I already have a committment for some equestrian events, judo and table-tennis. Seems the prices will be more reasonable there. Pity it is in Portugese but they are usually friendly people.

[Guantanamo]

Reduce ticket prices for events that aren't going to be sold out or sell well is one step. An efficient lottery is the other. Corps should have to commit to a certain number of seats for each event they have tickets for and release the rest on to the market.

I never understand the pricing structure for most of these events. You are never going to sell a lot of tickets for a lot of the really small sports, especially at the prices they are offering them, and the aim of the ticket sales isn't to recoup the entire investment so why not offer tickets to the Honduras vs Guatemala water polo 10 pounds or less and get the arena nice and full (and recoup money from sales of the merchandise and food etc that comes with it) versus charging god knows how much and having arenas sit empty. If the match still isn't sold out by the last lottery or whatever than give the tickets away to charities and such. Let them auction them off for money or give them to the people who can't afford tickets.

With regards to our WC, I understand the pricing structure etc is set in place by FIFA but I don't think anyone would have complained much if the prices for North Korea vs Honduras in Nelspruit or Polokwane were like R50-R250 a ticket and Spain vs Netherlands in Jhb, CT or the other big cities were looking at R300-R1000.

[chrisc4290]

The IOC is run by ultra-snobbish European nobility who have no idea at all about how ordinary people who work for a living exist. They run from their castle into their chauffered car into the private jet and are chauffered to their plush hotel. They even made the London council paint Olympic routes in some roads and remove speed bumps.

Sepp Blatter is another similar case. A Swiss aristocrat who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and does not care about "fans".

The British Olympic lottery had so many pre-conditions that I knew from the start that I could never stand a chance and was foolish to try and consider it. With Rio on the other hand there are private sports clubs who are guaranteed tickets for many events, and foreigners can join.

I found out 20 mins ago that I can get tickets for the Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle on 9th August (at £120 each). Only that one event. I would want at least 5 to make it worthwhile

[bwana]

I went through the whole process to get my mother her tickets and it was a real nuisance she eventually got two of the three she wanted. Athletics, the third, was sold out almost immediately.

I narrowly missed out on working at the olympics this time but you can be sure I'll be in Rio in 2016!

[Billy]

Quite Simple. Label all "Corporate" and IOC seats as such. TV will zoom in on the empty seats giving the ticket holders "welcome" publicity.

[chrisc4290]

Quite Simple. Label all "Corporate" and IOC seats as such. TV will zoom in on the empty seats giving the ticket holders "welcome" publicity.

The IOC even control what the TV cameras can view. Only in the Opening Ceremony were they allowed to zoom in on country visitors like Michelle Obama.

I also got one set of Athletic tickets, but would have needed 50X binoculars to see anything.

[Picard]

I also got one set of Athletic tickets, but would have needed 50X binoculars to see anything.

Which is why the teevee is betta.

[adsl2]

I went through the whole process to get my mother her tickets and it was a real nuisance she eventually got two of the three she wanted. Athletics, the third, was sold out almost immediately.

I narrowly missed out on working at the olympics this time but you can be sure I'll be in Rio in 2016!

Do you have a blog/website where one can view your photos?

[Kosmik]

Quite Simple. Label all "Corporate" and IOC seats as such. TV will zoom in on the empty seats giving the ticket holders "welcome" publicity.

Offer to splash the companies logo as a backdrop to the seats :D

[bwana]

Do you have a blog/website where one can view your photos?

Not really but if I can sort out copyright issues it might be worth looking in to. I do drop the occasional photo into my mybb album but those are all noncommissioned works.

[chrisc4290]

Which is why the teevee is betta.

Yea, HDTV is superb and you probably see more detail. But there is little excitement. I went to the Montreal games in 1976 and it was amazing, so well organised. Seats didn't cost an arm and a leg and we stayed in a B&B about 10 mins from the train station