London 2012 tickets: High demand
The background
The London Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG) is under pressure over empty seats at some sold-out London 2012 events. LOCOG chairman Lord Coe initially denied there was a problem: “Those venues are stuffed to the gunnels,” he said, reported The Guardian. However, repeated televised images of spectators competing in front of swathes of empty seats prompted an investigation by organisers.
Despite early reports that the empty seats were due to corporate sponsors, LOCOG said the no-shows were in the accredited sections reserved for media and the “Olympic family” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Soldiers drafted in to help with security have been asked to fill some of the empty spaces. But with public anger growing, what can LOCOG do to rectify the situation?
Read all about the top five London 2012 controversies at The Periscope Post.
Empty seats a betrayal of spectators’ Olympic spirit
There is a “huge moral imperative” to make the Games inclusive, wrote James Lawton in The Independent, and that seems to have been overlooked in the London 2012 ticketing system: “It is either a celebration for as many of the people as possible or it isn’t.” It’s all very well for Lord Coe to blame sponsors for the empty seats, but perhaps the blame should lie a little closer for home – it seems as if organisers have ignored “the desire of ordinary people to be involved in the drama of the Olympics”.
Soldiers filling empty seats at London 2012.
Don’t blame LOCOG for empty seats
“The brutal truth is this Olympic family owns the London Games. We, the British people, do not,” wrote Mihir Bose in The Evening Standard. “Naturally, the sight of empty seats angers the millions of people who tried in vain to get tickets for the Games but the fact is we cannot change how the Olympic family operates.”
The Telegraph provided a guide to the events that have had empty seats over the opening two days of the Olympics.
Limited solution for empty seats issue
“The empty spaces are in specifically accredited areas where tickets can’t be sold to members of the public. That restricts Locog’s options,” pointed out David Bond at the BBC. There are some options available to Locog, such as giving the seats to the military or to pre-accredited students and teachers. “But that does not help get more tickets at cheap prices into the hands of ordinary people who felt they missed out,” Bond wrote.
Watch an Associated Press report on the empty seats row.
More on the Olympics
- Britons finally enjoying Olympics?
- North Korean flag row opens Games
- From pregnant shooters to moth attacks, the weird world of London 2012
- Five Olympics controversies
