A nice picture gallery of some empty seats.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2012/jul/29/olympics-2012-olympic-tickets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2012/jul/29/olympics-2012-olympic-tickets
Empty seats
- Thread starter Azza
- Start date
The second day at the Aquatic Centre and the majority of the seats are empty
Soldato
He's a Tory backed by big business. I wouldn't have expected anything less from him.
The second day at the Aquatic Centre and the majority of the seats are empty
I think you'll find that is during the warm up (hence multiple swimmers per lane), which is 90 minutes before the first event...
Anyone been to an event with empty seats? Anything to stop you just sitting in another seat?
I can understand if you've got a £20 ticket and jump into the corporate box someone might kick up a fuss, but if you stay in the same pricing area I can't see why there'd be a problem.
I'm going on Friday to an early morning swimming session with only heats (no finals), so I can't imagine that being rammed...
I can understand if you've got a £20 ticket and jump into the corporate box someone might kick up a fuss, but if you stay in the same pricing area I can't see why there'd be a problem.
I'm going on Friday to an early morning swimming session with only heats (no finals), so I can't imagine that being rammed...
Man of Honour
I'm not too surprised at empty seats at Wembley and Wimbledon because there are a lot of seats to fill, but empty blocks at the swimming and smaller venues = 
Most likely people who've won tickets in competitions who aren't going, corporate freebie tickets, people preferring to watch the GP, etc, but either way I think they should let people in the Park queue up to obtain empty seats or similar, and, since they know who should've been where, find out why they weren't there and penalise their allocations for the rest of the Games because people are buying tickets still - I've just bought some cheap Canoe tickets which appeared on the site, since I live minutes away from Eton Dorney!
Most likely people who've won tickets in competitions who aren't going, corporate freebie tickets, people preferring to watch the GP, etc, but either way I think they should let people in the Park queue up to obtain empty seats or similar, and, since they know who should've been where, find out why they weren't there and penalise their allocations for the rest of the Games because people are buying tickets still - I've just bought some cheap Canoe tickets which appeared on the site, since I live minutes away from Eton Dorney!
BBC News at Ten said most of the seating issues aren't so much down to sponsors. Infact the major sponsors have said they are using or have returned their allocation.
Their investigation found that empty tickets likely belong to those reserved for each sporting organisation from each country. Along with official delegates and such who have accredited access. Just think of how many dignitaries there are here and they are supposed to be able to go to anything they fancy on a whim, which is likely why this is happening.
Mpledge52 - although I've not been at a seated event yet, security and crowd control is taken very seriously from what I've experienced so far, so I doubt you will be able to just pick a seat.
Their investigation found that empty tickets likely belong to those reserved for each sporting organisation from each country. Along with official delegates and such who have accredited access. Just think of how many dignitaries there are here and they are supposed to be able to go to anything they fancy on a whim, which is likely why this is happening.
Mpledge52 - although I've not been at a seated event yet, security and crowd control is taken very seriously from what I've experienced so far, so I doubt you will be able to just pick a seat.
While the idea of just letting random people queue up to take the empty seats looks sound at face value, unfortunately it is a lot more complicated than that:
-What with all the security going on I think they want to tie specific ticket holders to specific seats
-Would make anti-touting much harder to police/enforce, I seem to remember that officially you aren't supposed to be allowed in unless you are accompanying the person who bought the tickets (clearly this won't be enforced anyway, but letting randomers in would be sending out an inconsistent message)
-How do you know beforehand what is genuinely going to be an 'empty seat' for the duration of the event i.e distinguishing between people turning up late who were intending to be there and no-shows - even if LOCOG could get advance notice of unwanted tickets it relies on people letting them know and simply isn't feasible to manage in the short-term a policy that would facilitate the re-allocation of tickets. Medium term you would sell them on the website but if Mrs Bloggs goes into early labour I can't imagine giving up your tickets is high on the agenda. Punishing corporates might be an option BUT surely the solution to empty seats isn't banning ticket holders from future events so you end up with even more empty seats! Probably 'illegal' anyway or at least even if allowable under T&Cs could see angry corporates taking some sort of action whether it be legal recompense or simply not sponsoring in future - at the end of the day IOC get paid anyway they do NOT want to be ****ing off sponsors due to the damage to future revenues.
You get empty seats in every sporting event held at big venues, I've been to plenty of "sold out" matches at the Emirates but I have never ever been to one where all the seats were taken.
-What with all the security going on I think they want to tie specific ticket holders to specific seats
-Would make anti-touting much harder to police/enforce, I seem to remember that officially you aren't supposed to be allowed in unless you are accompanying the person who bought the tickets (clearly this won't be enforced anyway, but letting randomers in would be sending out an inconsistent message)
-How do you know beforehand what is genuinely going to be an 'empty seat' for the duration of the event i.e distinguishing between people turning up late who were intending to be there and no-shows - even if LOCOG could get advance notice of unwanted tickets it relies on people letting them know and simply isn't feasible to manage in the short-term a policy that would facilitate the re-allocation of tickets. Medium term you would sell them on the website but if Mrs Bloggs goes into early labour I can't imagine giving up your tickets is high on the agenda. Punishing corporates might be an option BUT surely the solution to empty seats isn't banning ticket holders from future events so you end up with even more empty seats! Probably 'illegal' anyway or at least even if allowable under T&Cs could see angry corporates taking some sort of action whether it be legal recompense or simply not sponsoring in future - at the end of the day IOC get paid anyway they do NOT want to be ****ing off sponsors due to the damage to future revenues.
You get empty seats in every sporting event held at big venues, I've been to plenty of "sold out" matches at the Emirates but I have never ever been to one where all the seats were taken.
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What I've seen them say so far is that the tickets would be offered to people who are already in the Olympic Park on just an Olympic Park access ticket, or perhaps are there for a different sport. Thus those people have already been through all the security.
What they said was that if corporate/sports organisation seats are not taken 10 minutes before an event starts, they would release them to be sold inside the park.
It would fill up more of the seats, though it would probably also be a bit of a downer if you paid a small fortune for tickets in advance and then somebody gets an even better seat for less money. But you would have to be pretty lucky in the first place.
I agree though that they need to have it more sorted out in advance, so tickets can be available for those who want them, as well as letting kids have some, so to inspire as they say the games are supposed to do.
What I've seen them say so far is that the tickets would be offered to people who are already in the Olympic Park on just an Olympic Park access ticket, or perhaps are there for a different sport. Thus those people have already been through all the security.
What they said was that if corporate/sports organisation seats are not taken 10 minutes before an event starts, they would release them to be sold inside the park.
It would fill up more of the seats, though it would probably also be a bit of a downer if you paid a small fortune for tickets in advance and then somebody gets an even better seat for less money. But you would have to be pretty lucky in the first place.
I agree though that they need to have it more sorted out in advance, so tickets can be available for those who want them, as well as letting kids have some, so to inspire as they say the games are supposed to do.
Shame I don't have a spare £600 to get some swimming tickets!
Apparently tickets will go up the evening before for next day events. So if you want something you'll have to check the site to try and get some.
Man of Honour
Just watch the demand knacker the system.
Associate
I went to the Judo today and there were at least 200 empty seats scattered around the arena. With regards to the ticket system I've had a friend and I try continuously for the past 2 hours to get other tickets with no luck. It's just ridiculous they take 15 minutes to tell you they're not available. Even the seriously expensive tickets aren't there. The whole system is such a joke. What's even funnier is that the tickets that are given up don't get out online but you can go to the box office inside the Olympic park to get them if you're lucky on the day. Except you can't get into the park without a ticket...
Soldato
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Nice shot of massive section of empty seats at wembley today for the womens football, GBR vs Brazil. They have not been available online, so i presume its companies CBA to turn up again. Disgrace
Swimming just started, 1 race done but....
??????
Is that not the Media area?
The area where all the commentators and press from every country sit. Which is why you can see all the desks. I'm pretty sure that's how I saw it when I was watching the Diving yesterday.
Man of Honour
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the blue sections are for the media.