Is it me or did we really not have any of these problems in Atlanta? Just speaking for myself, I had no problem getting tickets for everything I wanted… And the soccer tickets were dirt cheap! 
Oh MY!!! The comments are worse than the article. Just makes you sad… and furious.
C
[QUOTE=War Admiral;6453940]
Article.
Is it me or did we really not have any of these problems in Atlanta? Just speaking for myself, I had no problem getting tickets for everything I wanted… And the soccer tickets were dirt cheap! :)[/QUOTE]
Could you even order tickets online in 1996?
Paris must be so relieved not to have won these Olympics… I may have been tempted to go if Paris had won because I have relatives in Paris, but I would never bother going to the Olympics otherwise. Too much money involved… and I still get the feeling watching TV… and I see much better and more sports!
I am feeling sorry for the people who spent all that money and now have so much trouble. It would so spoil the experience.
The part about tickets bought by the same person are not anywhere near each other is just weird.
An aunt and uncle of mine went to Atlanta, for the same reason–my uncle’s brother lived there, so they were able to stay for free and attend some of the stuff pretty reasonably. And they brought me back a t-shirt with the Equestrian logo on it! 
But both of them said that while it was great to go, if you want to watch, you’re better off staying home and watching it on TV.
[QUOTE=War Admiral;6453940]
Article.
Is it me or did we really not have any of these problems in Atlanta? Just speaking for myself, I had no problem getting tickets for everything I wanted… And the soccer tickets were dirt cheap! :)[/QUOTE]
Yes, there were problems with tickets in Atlanta. For instance, folks who did not order complete sets for a series usually ended up with seats way up in the nosebleed sections. IOW, if you ordered the full series of show jumping tickets, you MIGHT get decent seats. But if you only bought tickets for finals, you probably ended up in the furthest section possible, and often in a corner. Ditto for dressage.
And there were inconsistencies in the way blocks of seats were allocated. Our group ordered a block of 8 seats for the entire dressage series, and our seats were about as high up as one could get in the stands. Another group ordered a block of 10 seats TWO WEEKS after we ordered ours, and their tickets were primo seats almost dead center to A and only half-way up the stands. Another group ordered 8 seats about the same time as the second group, and they got 2 seats together way up in the stands behind H, but their other 6 seats were behind B and not as high. Same price for the seats, but the viewing experience was vastly different from the various locations.
It was a fustercluck, pure and simple. :sigh:
Don’t know of any large gathering such as the Olympics without problems with ticket sales. Remember the problems at the 2010
WEG’s?
What I discovered at the 1996 Atlanta Games is one could buy tickets for face value or more if you were willing. I bought tickets to watch Field Hockey between Holland and a much smaller country. It was a fun evening even though most everyone around me were Dutch. However I did understand that some of the Dutch cheers or jeers were rather rude :lol:
I ordered tickets for 23 people at Atlanta - Equestrian, and lots of other sports. The earlier sales were thru an order form and mail. Later ticket sales were thru a phone menu. We did both, as some of our group wanted to add things later, like ME :lol:
Even just a couple of weeks before, I was able to get good tickets and seats to everything I wanted.
Very reasonably priced, and we were quite happy with the seats.
also in Montreal!
also in Montreal!
We ordered the whole equestrian package for Atlanta and had fabulous seats for all but one event (oddly, the stadium phase for one of the two eventing events they ran at that Olympics). My mom and I were amazed first at how close we were and then started listening to the conversations around us and figured out that we were surrounded by the People That Be. We looked at each other and wondered what we were doing there. Friends who had tickets just for dressage did not fare as well and probably hated us.
For LA in 1984 we didn’t get the equestrian package, but bought tickets for individual events. We didn’t fare as well there, though had great tickets for the last day of show jumping. But we talked to people who had great seats and determined that many of them had purchased the package; hence our decision for Atlanta. We did, however, score two tickets to the Opening Ceremonies.
You could definitely order tickets to Atlanta online… that is how I got mine. Ironically I decided to go at the last minute and wound up getting better seats than friends of mine who’d ordered soon after they started accepting orders. I think that by the time I ordered - literally a couple of weeks before the games began - corporations/sponsors had begun releasing some of their seats.
What is extraordinary is that ALL sports that I watched today, particularly equestrian were filled less than 40%… Thats just rude.
Seb Coe is now trying to blame it on each sport’s international federation, saying they weren’t showing up. Oh please.
[QUOTE=belambi;6463582]
What is extraordinary is that ALL sports that I watched today, particularly equestrian were filled less than 40%… Thats just rude.[/QUOTE]
In fariness, even many eventers would rather watch paint dry than watch eventing dressage. I bet there won’t be an empty seat in the arena on Tuesday for the final phase, nor for the straight dressage and showjumping competitions. Of course the XC should be packed out, this is in England after all.
This morning’s update is the organizers claim the sponsor ticket holders, who are apparently entire blocks of tickets, aren’t showing up. They are now using British Military personnel to fill empty tickets. I guess that’s good for the Military, but still an embarassment to the organizing committee. When there are lots of empty seats for swim finals, then you know something is rotten in the ticket sales and allocation.
The male commentator at Eventing Dressage, said that the seats looked more empty than they are, because people are looking at the warmups, getting food, and hiding from the rain. Nice effort on his part, but it just doesn’t wash.
Many of the people with eventing dressage tickets are taking the opportunity to walk the cross country course. 
There have also been problems with access to water and food once you are inside the Park. You are only allowed to take 100ml of a liquid (just like getting on a plane) and there are only two underpowered water fountains inside. The queues were up to an hour yesterday and many of the food outlets had run out of food before 12 o’clock!
Here’s hoping things get better as the games go on.
OK, I read the article and it took me a long time to get what they meant by “fails to post tickets.” Don’t they speak American?? “Let’s get that in the mail, y’all!”
Sigh, and to think of how much they criticized Vancouver!!! Knowing they were next to organize the Games, they should have kept quiet… geez, so far, not great. At least, in Vancouver, you could SEE the flame too!!!
