Athletes’ friends and family ticket system to be overhauled – The Guardian

Posted on July 30, 2012 by pmkbncscience

London 2012 organizers have promised to overhaul the system for distributing tickets to friends and families of competitors, after complaints that some had missed their events as a result of queues and confusion.
Under a system developed by the ticketing partner of the London 2012 organisers, Ticketmaster, athletes are obliged to log their request for tickets online, then pick them up at a box office in the athletes’ village.

Full article:
Athletes’ friends and family ticket system to be overhauled – The Guardian- July 30, 2012
By: Owen Gibson
Link to The Guardian article

Olympic Organisers Release More Tickets – Financial Times

Posted on July 30, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Olympics organisers have requested the return of some tickets from the so-called “Olympic family“ in response to growing public anger over the number of empty seats seen at some sought-after events over the weekend.
London’s organising committee (Locog) said on Monday that it had put about 3,000 tickets, including 600 for gymnastics, on sale late on Sunday night, which had since sold out.

Full article:
Olympic Organisers Release More Tickets – Financial Times – July 30, 2012
By: Vanessa Kortekaas and Kiran Stacey
Link to Financial Times article

Police Draw Up Hitlist in Crackdown on Black Market – The Guardian

Posted on June 26, 2012 by pmkbncscience

A hitlist of 30 international websites and 970 individuals, many linked to serious organised crime, are being targeted by police investigating the multimillion-pound black market in sports tickets in the runup to the Olympics.
One man is being hunted in Belgium for attempting to sell large quantities of Olympic tickets, and the Metropolitan police are liaising with the US national Olympic committee over several unauthorised sites attempting to sell seats illegally.

Full article:
Olympic tickets: police draw up hitlist in crackdown on black market – The Guardian – June 19, 2012
By Martin Cross
Link to The Guardian article

Man Held by Police in Leicester Over London 2012 Ticketing – Metro

Posted on June 25, 2012 by pmkbncscience

The 39-year-old was held in Leicester while a business address in the city was searched, Scotland Yard said.
He was arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation and unauthorised sale of tickets by officers with Operation Podium, the Met’s dedicated unit tackling crime affecting the economy of the Olympics and Paralympics, and remains in custody.

Full article:
Man Held by Police in Leicester Over London 2012 Ticketing – Metro – June 20, 2012
By Martin Cross
Link to The Metro article

Three More Arrests Over Sale of Olympics Tickets – The Independent

Posted on June 25, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Another three people have been arrested on suspicion of the unauthorised sale of Olympics tickets.
Two men and one woman, who are also suspected of fraud, were arrested yesterday by detectives from Operation Podium, the investigation into the unauthorised sale of Olympic and Paralympic tickets, and Leicestershire Police.

Full article:
Three More Arrests Over Sale of Olympics Tickets – The Independent – June 21, 2012
By Martin Cross
Link to The Independent article

Olympics Ticketing Scandal Set to Cast Shadow Over London Games – The Guardian

Posted on June 18, 2012 by pmkbncscience

A ticketing scandal involving more than a quarter of the 204 countries represented at the Olympics looks set to hang over the London Games, after it emerged that an internal investigation is unlikely to be completed before the opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee has promised to investigate allegations that 27 agents representing 54 countries were prepared to offer thousands of unauthorised tickets at prices of up to £6,000 to undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as envoys for a ticket broker from the Middle East.

Full Article:
Olympics ticketing scandal set to cast shadow over London Games—The Guardian—June 17, 2012
By Owen Gibson
Link to The Guardian article

IOC to Investigate ‘Black Market’ Olympic Tickets – The Guardian

Posted on June 18, 2012 by pmkbncscience

The International Olympic Committee has launched an inquiry into allegations that Olympic officials and agents have been caught selling tickets for the London 2012 Games on the black market.

The IOC has held an emergency meeting of its ruling executive following an undercover newspaper investigation. It has referred the allegations to its independent ethics commission, which could lead to a review of how Olympic tickets are distributed among member countries in the future.

Full Article:
IOC to investigate ‘black market’ Olympic tickets—The Guardian—June 17, 2012
By Cass Jones
Link to The Guardian article

Wealthy Most Keen to Buy Olympics Tickets – Financial Times

Posted on June 18, 2012 by pmkbncscience

The most affluent groups in society – those earning more than £50,000 a year – are twice as likely to have visited the London 2012 ticketing website, according to research by Experian, the information services company.

Full Article:
Wealthy most keen to buy Olympics tickets – Financial Times- June 17, 2012
By Gill Plimmer and Vanessa Kortekaas
Link to The Financial Times article

At Last I See the Genius of London’s Olympics – The Financial Times

Posted on June 6, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Mea culpa. I had thought that the 2012 Olympics were destined to descend into chaos. I now know that the games will be a triumphant celebration of London’s place as an unrivalled global hub. My first error was to underestimate the guile of the organisers; my second to be naive about the proper measure of success.

The scales fell from my eyes the other day when the London Underground suffered another of its catastrophic breakdowns. Thousands were trapped underground in baking heat. The grand design suddenly came into pin-sharp focus. Some might have thought this latest incident was another reason why sane people should flee the capital before the Olympic hordes arrive. Well, yes. But – and here is the brilliance of Lord Coe and his fellow 2012 panjandrums – that’s the plan.

Full article:
At Last I See the Genius of London’s Olympics – The Financial Times – May 28, 2010
By: Phillip Stevens
Link to The Financial Times article

London 2012 Olympics: Lord Coe Defends Sponsor Protection – The Guardian

Posted on May 21, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Lord Coe, the chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, has said the tough approach to policing branding around the Games and the Olympic rings is aimed at protecting taxpayers. As part of the conditions stipulated by the International Olympic Committee for hosting the Games, the government introduced legislation designed to guard against ambush marketing.

But that has led to accusations of heavy-handedness and the possibility that local businesses, pubs and cafes could be targeted. Any images or wording that imply too close an association with the Games could be considered in breach. Locog’s guidance says that expressions likely to be considered a breach of the rules could include any two of the following list: Games, Two Thousand and Twelve, 2012, Twenty-Twelve. But Coe said the legislation was essential “in protecting the sponsors who come to the table with a lot of money to help us stage these Games”

Full article:
London 2012 Olympics: Lord Coe Defends Sponsor Protection – The Guardian – May 13, 2012
By Owen Gibson
Link to Guardian article

Olympic Games Will Boost UK Economy, Predicts Bank of England – The Guardian

Posted on May 21, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Britain’s struggling economy will receive a much-needed boost from the Olympic Games this summer as more tourism and extra public spending lead to increased activity that could spell the end of the double dip recession, the Bank of England said.

In its assessment of the likely impact of hosting the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Threadneedle Street said it expected output to be around 0.2% higher in the third quarter than it otherwise would have been.

Full article:
Olympic Games Will Boost UK Economy, Predicts Bank of England – The Guardian – May 16, 2012
By Heather Stewart and Larry Elliott
Link to The Guardian article

Fans Queue Up to Turn Grey Day into Symphony of Colour – The Guardian

Posted on May 13, 2012 by pmkbncscience

The paying public were allowed into the Olympic Park proper for the first time on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly enough, their day out began at the back of a queue. The line, an hour long from start to finish, was set against a backdrop of concrete and clouds in an array of shades of grey – battleship, elephant’s breath, John Major’s suit. It was a depressingly British scene, and made for a rather dreary start to this final Olympic dress rehearsal. “This is an important week for us from a testing point of view,” says Paul Deighton, the chief executive officer of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over the next five days the public can come and watch hockey, water polo and athletics in their Olympic venues. Locog expects 140,000 spectators to pass through the park this week, as well as 11,000 workers and 3,000 athletes.

Full article:
Fans Queue Up to Turn Grey Day into Symphony of Colour – The Guardian – May 2, 2012
By Andy Bull
Link to Guardian article

Checking Off the Olympic Games ‘To Do’ List As Time Runs Out – London Evening Standard

Posted on April 23, 2012 by pmkbncscience

With just three months until the opening ceremony, critical challenges will come in rapid succession – whether it’s the final stage of the ticket sales, kitting out the venues, testing the Olympic stadium or training tens of thousands of civilian security guards.

Lord Coe and his organizing committee, which has grown to an army of 4,000 Olympic workers, know the consequences of hitting troubles now as there is so little time to react.

Full article:
Checking off the Olympic Games ‘to do’ list as time runs out – London Evening Standard – April 17, 2012
By Matthew Beard
Link to Financial Times article

London Olympic Games ‘On Course to Hit Revenue Targets’ – London Evening Standard

Posted on April 23, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Chief executive ‘confident’ over ticket and merchandise sales. There will not be a significant surplus left over from running the Games but London 2012, which was quick off the mark to secure sponsors after being names as host in 2005, is in a positive mood with 100 days to go to the start of the Games.

Full article:
London Olympic Games ‘on course to hit revenue targets’ – London Evening Standard – April 17, 2012
Link to Financial Times article

Just The Ticket For Trouble

Posted on February 21, 2012 by pmkbncscience

During the London 2012 ticketing process, there were 20 million applications for 6.6 million tickets. Such oversubscription has fuelled the main pre-Olympic complaint in Britain: the ticketing lottery, and the lack of tickets available for the common person. Especially in London itself, where despite (fairly minor) hikes in council tax to pay for the Games’ construction, residents were given no special access to tickets.
In addition, several gaffes have raised hackles again among fans. Most recently, a human error led to 10,000 tickets for synchronized swimming being accidentally oversold. While in January, the much-vaunted launch of a website where fans could resell unwanted tickets crashed for over a week.
Closer to the Games, however, corporate sponsorship could prove the most inflammatory element. Already, it’s been revealed that in the Velodrome – the venue for Britain’s brightest medal hopes – a mind-boggling 95% of the allocation (90,000 tickets) were reserved for sponsors. In late November, an embarrassing lack of interest saw over 1.5million football tickets that were previously reserved for sponsors go back on sale to the general public. Worse, it was revealed LOCOG have gagged their Olympic sponsors to prevent them from revealing how many tickets they purchased under their contractual agreements.
As a side note, the official Olympic merchandise has also come under fire for being too expensive. On sale in 12 shops throughout the capital since April 2010, the collection includes a basic Adidas polo shirt at £28 ($44), a child’s jacket at £40 ($62) and cuddly versions of the two mascots Wenlock and Mandeville for £45 ($70). Comparisons have been made with the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, where official merchandise was sold at the events for twice the price as online. An angry backlash eventually forced a rethink there – could the same happen in London?

Key Questions
- As the reality of exclusion bites during the Games – as well as the possibility of empty, unused seats during key events, could this lead to the beginning of a dynamic ticketing movement?
- Could these issues – coupled with, for example, special Olympic traffic lanes for sponsors – lead to a cultural backlash against the “corporate class”?
- Similarly, the wider availability of tickets through non-lottery agencies in Germany and Poland has added to perception that the British “sense of fair play” has been taken for a ride. Is there the potential for xenophobia against foreign ticket holders?

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Category Archives: Just the Ticket for Trouble