The “school kids” number confuses me. The “official ticket count” was 411K , as mentioned in the article mares tails posted. But every time ticket numbers are mentioned, they also mention all the “non-paying attendees”, and include the 60K school kids. But I read that the kids got in free because Pearse Lyons raised the dough from his business partners to buy the tickets. If that’s the case, it was a free ride for the kids, but WEG still got the money for the tickets. So does the 411K include the 60K kids that somebody paid for, or not?
i do not know what WEG did, but for all large events that I have worked at as staff, we ALL had tickets (which of course we got for free) but our tickets were part of the “number” of attendees total.
Oh, yes, there was. I purchased 4 tix for what I ‘thought’ was the entire speed class at $60 each, about last March or so. Imagine our surprise when lunch time came (halfway through the class) and the announcer said ‘okay, that’s it for this session, if you want to see the exciting conclusion of the class, go buy tickets for the afternoon session.’ Well, gee, we were there to see the whole class. So yeah, we bought tickets to the same section we were sitting in- for $40. So, $100 to watch one complete (preliminary) class, per person. Mind you, we weren’t quite as disgruntled as the British ladies in front of us in the ticket line. They had paid $150 per ticket, and thought they had seats in the main covered stands, but no, they were on the opposite side, and couldn’t hear the announcer where they were sitting.
The cumulative result of my group’s sticker shock was, well, we could have bought tickets to the Final Four, but decided that the additional $100 a pop to see the top four (16 rounds swapping the horses) just wasn’t worth it. On the one hand, stupid because you are there and have the easy opportunity to see the grand finale. On the other hand, we’d seen 5 of 8 disciplines, had seen the final four riders and their horses in two previous classes, and for $30 total could go see the Secretariat movie (including popcorn) and then sip wine in our hotel room.
More than one defender of the ticket pricing said ‘oh, but this is comparable to the Big Sporting Events like the Ryder Cup, etc…’ Well, I have been to a golf tournament or two, and they never sell tickets for a half a round! Really, I think the profit margin and total sales would have been much larger if they’d cut all those ticket prices in half- more parking revenues, concession revenues, etc. The stands were usually half empty or more, and I’d bet as many foreigners as Americans in the stands, since horse sports just aren’t a big draw in this country. Opportunity missed.
huh, there was a change of plans - the individual had an afternoon session in addition to the evening team finals and we were told it was part of the same ticket. Interesting. LOL - the ind final four was SO worth it. Just sayin’
Anyway it seems from the article you posted, it might have still been more expensive at Aachen and I’m still giggling at the idea of American paying more for dressage than Europeans. Need to post that one on the FAIL blog.
FEI bailed out WEG to the tune of $1.3 million
In the financial presentation to the FEI General Assembly in Taipei today it was stated that the FEI Bureau made an emergency decision while at the 2010 WEG in Kentucky to contribute 1.3 million Swiss Francs to the cost of the games. CHF1.3 million approximately equals US$1.354 million.
