Viewer2012

Ah, Baron. You do add levity to this forum, and I appreciate your presence. I love that you are committed to this, and you get an A for enthusiasm. Also, I believe in free speech, the internet, etc., and you're entitled to say anything you like. But why post with suggestions when it seems like you have no experience with buying Olympics tickets, and you don't seem to have any information about how they are distributed or how one might go about getting some?

Box office rarely has decent day-of seats. Usually no seats. Athens was an exception, but the number of spectators was low due to post 9/11 concerns and reports of unpreparedness. In my experience, empty seats does not mean available tickets. It means ticketed VIP no-shows, or unused tickets set aside for VIPs.

I'm not connected at all! I just love attending the Games, and have since a friend invited me to LA when I was fresh out of college in '84. I've learned what I have only from reading and talking with other fans. Almost all of my tickets have been purchased through the U.S. ATR, first Cartan, now Cosport. At least from a U.S. perspective, tickets have become more difficult to obtain. From Barcelona through Athens, maybe 80% of my initial ticket request was simply filled during the initial ballot. In almost every case, most of the remainder were filled in a second ballot. Beginning with Beijing, though, the supply at least of standalone tickets available through the U.S. ATR became more scarce. I've supplemented by getting some tickets from friends in the EEA, an area about which Volshy knows a great deal, and in a couple of cases eBay (e.g., a hard to find Diving ticket in Beijing, bought from someone in Japan). The first Cosport ballot this year, though, was the very worst so far Like almost everyone else from whom we've heard, I got just a few tickets. Maybe this is due to higher demand, but I think US travelers were far more likely to want to attend in London than in Rio. Could be worldwide demand, or Brazilian demand. Could be the Organizing Committee or the ATR. Very hard to know. Oh, and I believe in the Olympic spirit. It's what makes each Games so fantastic! But it doesn't guide the flesh and blood people who run the Games, except in a few cases (maybe Seb Coe?), and even then, only in a way that is unfortunately compromised by the demands surrounding the reality that this is a multi billion dollar business.

I did not mean to say tickets weren't available. And I defer to you, Volshy, in all things ticket-related. You are the master. . Although it has gotten MUCH harder over the years, it's possible to get tickets, and, with skill, to get tickets for most things you want. Which is why you are the master. My point is just that the idea that tickets, especially to the best events, are fairly and equally distributed to the public is silly.

1. There is no way to tell how it is done without oversight. 2. In any event, the Organizing Committee distributes tickets to ATRs. a) no one knows how the allocations to each ATR are made; no one knows how ATRs (which get a 20% mark up on standalone tickets) are chosen; and c) the ATRs are not required to distribute tickets "evenly;" they are allowed to allocate tickets to be sold only with "packages," i.e., hotel rooms, that have been marked up sometimes by 1000%. I am not cynical, this is how it works, as you can see from any ATR's own website. [Oops. That snarky face is supposed to be a "b".]

As an attendee at seven of the last eight Summer Games, I think may be the most hilarious sentence I've ever read about the Olympics. Who is the "they," and how and why do they distribute prized tickets fairly and evenly? What makes them do it, and then who oversees and transparently and publicly audits their compliance? Hilarious!