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Post by superox on Jul 29, 2012 7:51:44 GMT
A great shame to see so many empty seats especially in the Aquatic Centre yesterday am.
Corporate guests not showing?
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Post by dartfordox (RIP) on Jul 29, 2012 8:20:34 GMT
There is a flip side to everything. Yesterday provided the biggest single sporting event ever to have happened in this country. People 5 and 6 deep all the way from the Mall to Dorking and back all watching the road cycling for free. Over a million people watching one race.
I can live with empty paid for seats if the money collected helps other people to watch other sports for nothing.
And an interesting little aside from yesterday's race. The US complained all the support cars provided were right hand drive instead of the usual left hand drive for the continent. Which in turn meant the mechanics (who normally lean out of the passenger side to work on bikes in motion) had to work left handed. They didn't have a left handed mechanic.
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Post by moobs on Jul 29, 2012 9:14:00 GMT
There is a flip side to everything. Yesterday provided the biggest single sporting event ever to have happened in this country. People 5 and 6 deep all the way from the Mall to Dorking and back all watching the road cycling for free. Over a million people watching one race. I can live with empty paid for seats if the money collected helps other people to watch other sports for nothing. And an interesting little aside from yesterday's race. The US complained all the support cars provided were right hand drive instead of the usual left hand drive for the continent. Which in turn meant the mechanics (who normally lean out of the passenger side to work on bikes in motion) had to work left handed. They didn't have a left handed mechanic. and this only dawned on them yesterday?
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Post by Boogaloo on Jul 29, 2012 9:39:49 GMT
There is a flip side to everything. Yesterday provided the biggest single sporting event ever to have happened in this country. People 5 and 6 deep all the way from the Mall to Dorking and back all watching the road cycling for free. Over a million people watching one race. I can live with empty paid for seats if the money collected helps other people to watch other sports for nothing. And an interesting little aside from yesterday's race. The US complained all the support cars provided were right hand drive instead of the usual left hand drive for the continent. Which in turn meant the mechanics (who normally lean out of the passenger side to work on bikes in motion) had to work left handed. They didn't have a left handed mechanic. and this only dawned on them yesterday? Of course. For a lot of Americans the world is flat. It starts at New York in the East and finishes at Los Angeles in the west.
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Post by yellowilks on Jul 29, 2012 9:40:26 GMT
Bit of a joke people spent thousands and didnt get a single ticket and then other people spent less and got all tickets they wanted? Wheres the logic! , and then theres empty seats !!
Money grabbing
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2012 9:49:14 GMT
Bit of a joke people spent thousands and didnt get a single ticket and then other people spent less and got all tickets they wanted? Wheres the logic! , and then theres empty seats !! Money grabbing Eh? If someone didn't get a single ticket they've spent nothing. The draw has basically been left to chance, which seems unfair if you're unsuccessful I suppose! I think I prefer this method to "first come, first served" though. The empty seats are baffling. At the swimming there seemed to be a huge swathe all together, which points to corporate people not turning up (possibly still in a restaurant somewhere).
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Post by dabigfella on Jul 29, 2012 10:30:55 GMT
Name and shame ought to be the name of the game.
But it won't of course.
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Post by Boogaloo on Jul 29, 2012 12:03:41 GMT
A great shame to see so many empty seats especially in the Aquatic Centre yesterday am. Corporate guests not showing? It is absolutely disgraceful/ It would be very interesting to know how many of these went through the 'lottery process' and how many of them are corporate hospitality. If they are corps, then they should say "If you're not in by 15mins after the event start then you lose your seat, and we start selling tickets to people outside - and the money goes to charity.
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Post by tonyw on Jul 29, 2012 12:10:50 GMT
Eh? If someone didn't get a single ticket they've spent nothing. The draw has basically been left to chance, which seems unfair if you're unsuccessful I suppose! I think I prefer this method to "first come, first served" though. The empty seats are baffling. At the swimming there seemed to be a huge swathe all together, which points to corporate people not turning up (possibly still in a restaurant somewhere). Actually, although it kicked off with the draw - the 'first come first served' phase in the past month has been an absolute boon for people willing to put the effort in to get tickets. I've been on the website about 10 times a day for the past few weeks, and now have an absolute stack of tickets! On the empty seats front - I was at the Table Tennis last night, and it was exactly the same there. Absolutely packed apart from a small block of entirely empty with absolutely the prime view of the action. From what I've read, it's actually less corporate seats that are being left unfilled, and more 'accredited personnel'. So families and officials and the like. Hard to know what to do - other than name and shame. Given the number of people who would love tickets to all these events, anyone who has access to a seat and doesn't turn up should hang their heads.......
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Post by Mark on Jul 29, 2012 12:50:10 GMT
It seems strange that it is almost all of a 'prime' block that is empty. If that block was split between all the sponsors, I'd expect some gaps of seats (say a row of 8 or 4 or 16), but not the whole block. When the sponsors say they gave out loads of tickets, perhaps it was the 'cheap' seats.
Perhaps LOCOG sold them initially to the companies which arrange corporate hospitality, but the packages didn't get sold because it was too expensive and it is early rounds of the competition. eg Get 20 premium tickets for round 1 badminton plus meal and drink = £50K.
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Post by foghornleghorn on Aug 1, 2012 13:37:51 GMT
Hasn't this been the case at every Olympics though?
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Post by Simon Lill on Aug 1, 2012 13:44:24 GMT
Hasn't this been the case at every Olympics though? But has every Olympics been through the same ticketing fiasco in the build up? At the start we were told that the system they used would work best. That everyone would get a fair crack at the whip, and that it would be the most effective way to sell the seats. We were promised a ticketing system that would ensure a games 'for the people'. We had 7 years to get it right. And yet, over a year after they first went on sale they were still selling tickets using the (originally heavily criticised) first come first served basis, because the original 'lottery' method was heavily flawed. And then the prime seats awarded to the sponsers were left empty when thousands upon thousands of people couldn't get the tickets they wanted. Now because of the hoo ha in the media, they've quickly put together systems to resell the tickets including a 'print at home' option which totally goes against the policy of the original ticket sales that came with a verified seal. It's been a cock up from the start. And Coe's insistance on defending the systems just makes it worse.
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Post by moobs on Aug 1, 2012 13:55:27 GMT
Eh? If someone didn't get a single ticket they've spent nothing. The draw has basically been left to chance, which seems unfair if you're unsuccessful I suppose! I think I prefer this method to "first come, first served" though. The empty seats are baffling. At the swimming there seemed to be a huge swathe all together, which points to corporate people not turning up (possibly still in a restaurant somewhere). Actually, although it kicked off with the draw - the 'first come first served' phase in the past month has been an absolute boon for people willing to put the effort in to get tickets. I've been on the website about 10 times a day for the past few weeks, and now have an absolute stack of tickets! On the empty seats front - I was at the Table Tennis last night, and it was exactly the same there. Absolutely packed apart from a small block of entirely empty with absolutely the prime view of the action. From what I've read, it's actually less corporate seats that are being left unfilled, and more 'accredited personnel'. So families and officials and the like. Hard to know what to do - other than name and shame. Given the number of people who would love tickets to all these events, anyone who has access to a seat and doesn't turn up should hang their heads....... I'd go one step further. Kidnap their kids and force them to watch the badminton.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2012 14:17:16 GMT
But has every Olympics been through the same ticketing fiasco in the build up? Yes, and every world cup and European championship as well. Its an extremely difficult issue and there is no easy solution The media are only more focused on it this time because its our Olympics.
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Post by foghornleghorn on Aug 1, 2012 14:32:26 GMT
Hasn't this been the case at every Olympics though? But has every Olympics been through the same ticketing fiasco in the build up? Was it a fiasco? I had plenty of chances to buy tickets but decided it was a bit too pricey. My only criticism is it favoured people who work in front of computers (and people with enough disposable cash to justify the purchase). To say fiasco is a step too far. I think the lottery followed by the first come, first serve has been OK.
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Post by Simon Lill on Aug 1, 2012 14:33:30 GMT
But has every Olympics been through the same ticketing fiasco in the build up? Yes, and every world cup and European championship as well. Its an extremely difficult issue and there is no easy solution The media are only more focused on it this time because its our Olympics. It's not difficult though is it. Sell them as first come first served. That way you know you've sold tickets to people who plan to use them and you know exactly when things have sold out. Okay, so the downside is those with more money get more tickets than those with less money, but tell me that's not happened anyway. The wealthier were able to gamble bigger on the lottery method; I'm sure we can all recall the stories in the press at the time about the thousands of pounds worth of tickets applied for by individuals. If I'm being naive, someone needs to explain to me why. You know your sessions, locations, ticket allocations and price bands. Sell each sport one at a time, across the various sessions and stages. Easy It would also have secured more tickets for those very people who actually follow these sports week in week out. Because instead of every Tom, Dick and Harry applying for any wide ranging selection of sports, some they were interested in and some they weren't. Those people with a direct interest in Judo could have bought Judo tickets. Boxing fans, boxing tickets. Cycling fans, cycling tickets. And don't think that's not whats happened. Because my wife and her mum and going to the Olympics and have tickets for Gymanstics, Beach Volleyball and Basketball. Not because they follow those sports, or because they want to watch those sports. No, because they applied for a range of tickets and thats all they got and they simply want to 'be there'. And all the while Basketball, Volleyball and Gymnastic fans sit at home wishing they'd 'won' their tickets in the lottery, looking at the TV seeing empty seats.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2012 14:38:22 GMT
But its not the tickets that have been sold that are the problem. Or the corporate tickets. Its the tickets allocated to officials, family etc, which have not been used.
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Post by Simon Lill on Aug 1, 2012 14:45:46 GMT
No I get that. I just mean that I think this particular problem, which may well have manifested itself in other Olympics, is compounded by the ticket sales that went before it.
i.e. there would be far less uproar at the empty seats, had everyone felt they'd been given a fair crack at the whip to buy tickets for the sports they follow
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2012 14:58:27 GMT
Agree the tickets system could have been done better. I can see the resoning behind the lottery system but there would be disadvantages of first come first served as well. One other point is that they should have been more evenly priced. There can't be that much difference between the cheapest and most expensive seats.
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