Who’s to blame for empty seats at the Games?

Blame lies with LOCOG. Apparently this sort of thing happens every Games during the early rounds, So why couldn’t LOCOG have been on the ball and ask organisations to return wanted tickets in advance. Bad planning.

I agree with William, above, and also with many parts of the intro: if the tickets have been PAID for then it’s up to the purchaser what they do and if they’re daft enough to waste their tickets, so be it.

But I suspect a bit of a backfire on a well known marketing strategy: it’s very well known that for popular events the organisers or ticket agents make it **seem** as if tickets are almost sold out pretty much form the day they go on sale, to encourage waverers to make their purchase. I strongly suspect that LOCOG used this marketing ploy but that the demand for tickets, at the prices being charged, simply hasn’t bee there, so they’re left with the seats empty.

I’ve no proof of this of course, but I’ve seen it happen at a great many other events and I think it’s likely it’s happened here.

I agree with Dave D – it’s a real shame but if someone has paid for a ticket then it’s theirs to do with what they will, even if they do choose to waste it. I think one of the huge problems with giving things away for free, however, is that people don’t feel invested and therefore are often more likely to waste something.

I spoke to an events organiser a while ago, who was charging £20 for day tickets to a conference. I asked her why it was so cheap and she said “well, we want people to come along, so run it at a loss, but we can’t give tickets away for free or people will just sign up and not turn up.” It’s a sad thing, but one of the reasons why it’s good to charge *something* for a ticket, just to give people more incentive to use it.

Valid points about those that have paid for a ticket, but…
surely the vast majority of the empty seats cannot be attributed to members of the public that we’re lucky enough to get a ticket for a venue.
It was very sad to read about the family who watched the swimming outside the arena in the rain, while hundreds/thousands of seats were left empty for the entire duration of the session – I can’t believe the organisers didn’t put a strategy in place for what has been a big Olympic problem in the past.

It’s also a shame the ticket website can’t be updated to just list those tickets which are available day by day, instead of having to troll through the different sports.

A friends work is a sponsor and they have been given the “hard word” to ensure their ticket holders turn up to the events they have tickets for. According to my friend this isn’t the issue as all recipients of free sponsor tickets are extremely keen.

The issue might be with dignitaries not using their allocation. Part of the problem could be that a few were publicly humiliated when they tried to turn their tickets over for a tidy profit before the games. Another issue is these tickets are inside secure zones so they might not be able to give away or sell spare tickets.

What ever the reason is it’s sad to see empty seats/stands on television. Especially when you see how engaged and excited the crowds are in the stands that are full.

The British taxpayers are big contributors to the Olympic games – and it is unacceptable that there is no accountability and no responsibility for the empty seats. For each empty seat there is a broken heart of someone refused that seat. I would suggest to everyone to check on the price of tickets for so called returned “empty seats”, their prices are exhorbitant- often in the £400+ and out of reach from most of the ordinary tax payers. Too many tickets were so expensive, that it was out of reach, £1000 for themopening ceremony? I feel sad that the British public paid and will pay back debts for years to come, for what result? For the majority of ticket request, a rejection on an Olympian scale i.e. no ticket. And yes, we also pay for the BBC licence, so that too is not free ciewing. I checked the tickets for High Park, London, where the big screens are. Free? Please, look at the site, you might get something for over £300! We, the taxpayers, the ordinary public are just milking cash cows to provide the best seats to unknown people who do not even have the decency of giving back their tickets which often were freebies at our expenses. There is zero transparency. The people thinking that all is well in the best possible world are not candid – they have tickets – I bet.