Went up to the Olympics today to have a look around inside the park which is pretty awesome. Had to settle for Olympic park only tickets as didn't get anything in any of the rounds which I applied for so gutted to see loads of seats going unused inside the aquatics arena and other venues. What a total waste and proof if any were needed of the shambolic ticket allocation system. I was stood outside the hockey arena looking at empty seats which I could not buy tickets for! Still, team gb won some medals today.

The biggest problem with the tickets, I suspect, will be large corporates buying tickets as gifts for customers who simply don't turn up, this happens at many sporting events. Especially so when you see blocks of empty seats.

Agree with Taz, only 75% is made available to the public and 8% of the remainder go to Sponsors who then offer them to leading customers or as competitions. Most are then never taken up so the seats remain empty,
the remainder also goes to Olympic officials and the media.

Last edited by EYorkshire on 30th Jul 2012 8:29 am. Edited 1 time in total

I think the simplest solution would be to allow people to resell tickets - that way if you were a sponsor and not going to use it you could pass it on.

Agreed, when it's clearly apparent the seat is unoccupied, then they should resell the seat at a reduced rate

Say, give the original person 30mins to turn up, in case they got stuck on the way there, then sell it on, better than empty seats and people missing out

If the original booker turns up you then have a scene and a problem with a purchaser who may be a sponsor, that is why they are left empty, lesser of two evils.
Of course, if it was an Oriental country, they fill the seats with anyone to make it appear as though it's full and then turf them out when the ticket holder arrives, hoardes of people wandering round as a sort of rent a crowd, it works.

They have (I've read) loads of volunteers to shepherd people around. They could easily offer the seats to people already in the area for, say, a fiver, on the understanding that if the owner turns up you would need to move seats or even leave. I suspect the problem with that is that the "Olympic Familyu" don't like the idea of sitting next to smelly ordinary people.
And it's not just that the seats are empty, they are usually the best seats too.