Bradley Wiggins comments on the Olympic ticket allocation.

DF33
DF33 Posts: 732
edited June 2011 in Pro race
'I think, as most of the public feels, it's a bit of a shambles the ticket allocation"
said Bradley.

Enough said.
Peter
«13

Comments

  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    DF33 wrote:
    Enough said.

    Shortest. Thread. Ever.
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Apparently they had 22,000,000 applications for Velodrome tickets. :shock:

    Ask Brad to come up with a better way of allocating tickets.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    He also hates Boris bikes.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,141
    pat1cp wrote:
    Apparently they had 22,000,000 applications for Velodrome tickets. :shock:

    Ask Brad to come up with a better way of allocating tickets.

    The better way would be if you got a ticket you then get less chance of getting more :shock:
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    Unfortunately this country just doesn't seem to be able to handle putting on major sporting events wihout someone paying the price. We good at a lot of things but unfortunately sports events isn't one of em..;-)
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    pat1cp wrote:
    Apparently they had 22,000,000 applications for Velodrome tickets. :shock:

    Ask Brad to come up with a better way of allocating tickets.

    +1
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    A few tickets to each cycling club in the UK at a fixed price would be a good start. Show support from the Olympic committee to the genuine active and retired fans.

    When I played rugby, Twickenham would issue some tickets to every rugby union club in the UK. The clubs would then put names into a hat of their members wanting them and draw the required number of names out.
    This meant that at least some real fans managed to go and at the face value.

    It's these cycling clubs that 'bring on' the Olympians, the members who nurture them when young and help out, fund raise etc.
    It wouldn't sort the whole ticket issue out and would still mean most people would be disappointed but at least it would mean some year round cyclists would get to go.

    No one I know, out of all the people who are club members, regular cyclists etc have managed to get a ticket. That's quite a lot of people I know in Yorkshire and London.

    It isn't right.
    Peter
  • Noclue
    Noclue Posts: 503
    twenty two million applications for velodrome tickets? i dont think so there was only around 2 million applications overall, of which 800,000 were succesful in the first round, and then not all for cycling. 22,000,000 is a third of our national population, i'm not sure cycling is that popular.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    Competing rider allocation of 1 ticket per event is pretty poor.
    Draw a blank in the public lottery and no wonder the system gets called into question.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Noclue wrote:
    twenty two million applications for velodrome tickets? i dont think so there was only around 2 million applications overall, of which 800,000 were succesful in the first round, and then not all for cycling. 22,000,000 is a third of our national population, i'm not sure cycling is that popular.

    22,000,000 was stated on Five Live this morning, or was I dreaming ???
  • oscarbudgie
    oscarbudgie Posts: 850
    There's always enough tickets for so -called VIPs, sponsors and all their families, politicians and hangers on though. The prawn sandwich brigade. Same reek of elitism and privelege that made people turn away from the Millenium Celebrations. Coe & co are happy to take our money to build this sh!t but fukc you to anyone out of their circle who wants to go. My daughter is at school in a neighbouring borough to Stratford and even she won't get a ticket.
    Cannondale Supersix / CAAD9 / Boardman 9.0 / Benotto 3000
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    ^^^^^ That's the opposite way of describing the same thing in my post above.

    Totally agree with you.
    Peter
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    There's always enough tickets for so -called VIPs, sponsors and all their families, politicians and hangers on though. The prawn sandwich brigade. Same reek of elitism and privelege that made people turn away from the Millenium Celebrations. Coe & co are happy to take our money to build this sh!t but fukc you to anyone out of their circle who wants to go. My daughter is at school in a neighbouring borough to Stratford and even she won't get a ticket.

    I'm amazed people seem surprised at the corruption and neopotism in the IOC. If you look at how the organisation runs, none of this should be a surprise. Cadel Evans had some interesting comments on how the IOC behave in his book.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    Wimbledon have been doing it for years...Wot Wot.

    I've been many times over the years in some good seats, but only because I'm a member of a club or got very lucky through the public ballot. The amount of times I've been on Centre Court and looked around to see great chunks of corporate seats empty coz they're all off swilling champers in the hospitality suites.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    DF33 wrote:
    A few tickets to each cycling club in the UK at a fixed price would be a good start. Show support from the Olympic committee to the genuine active and retired fans.

    Blame British Cycling for that not the Olympic committee. In hockey I'm the club secretary of a fairly major club and I had the opportunity to buy over twenty tickets before the ballot even opened. I've got tickets to the final and semis and the middle weekend.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    pat1cp wrote:
    Noclue wrote:
    twenty two million applications for velodrome tickets? i dont think so there was only around 2 million applications overall, of which 800,000 were succesful in the first round, and then not all for cycling. 22,000,000 is a third of our national population, i'm not sure cycling is that popular.

    22,000,000 was stated on Five Live this morning, or was I dreaming ???
    1.8M people applied for 22M tickets for the whole games........not just cycling

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/13892584.stm
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    They should have sold the velodrome tickets for the highest price achievable and then put the money back into the sport - I'm not really one for sport being for the elite but for a one off event it's clear that the majority there aren't going to be cycling fans anyway so at least that way cycling and cyclists would benefit.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • MrChuck
    MrChuck Posts: 1,663
    I'm not so sure that people who are more into particular sports than Joe Public should get some sort of priority when it comes to giving out the tickets. On the face of it it's pretty reasonable- it does stick in the throat a little bit when the velodrome (for instance) will be jammed full of people who've probably not been on a bike in 20 years but have seen Chris Hoy on the cornflakes ad, while 'proper' cyclists have missed out.

    But is that really how you'd want to do an event like the Olympics- just for the people who are already into the sports? That's not really the point of it I don't think.


    My daughter is at school in a neighbouring borough to Stratford and even she won't get a ticket.

    Why should she be particulalrly entitled to one though?

    It does seem that there were a lot of things wrong with the balloting system but IMO the fact that a lot people who live within spitting distance of the Velodrome or have been actively supporting cycling for 20 years didn't get tickets isn't necessarily one of them.
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Don't forget how few seats there are in a velodrome! It's not like filling a football stadium. Something like 6,000 seats only. Of course those seats are going to be hard to get.

    To everyone that complains about the lack of tickets: just think how you would feel if they couldn't sell them. Don't forget -tickets sales pays a big part of the bill for the Games. Without it, it would fall back onto the taxpayer.

    And I guarantee you (as someone who lived in LA during the 84 Summer Olympics), it's always the same thing. Locals 'expect' tickets. No one ends up happy.

    I would say - it's MUCH better for people outside the UK to get the tickets. Then they have to pay for flights, hotels, food, etc, etc.
  • shm_uk
    shm_uk Posts: 683
    Unless I've massively missed something, the Olympic ticket allocation was effectively a lottery?

    So complaining about not being allocated the tickets you asked for is a bit like buying a Lottery ticket then complaining you didn't win the money you wanted?

    Nobody is 'entitled' to any tickets by default, and where demand outstrips supply then of course people are going to be disappointed.
  • shm_uk
    shm_uk Posts: 683
    Bronzie wrote:
    pat1cp wrote:
    Noclue wrote:
    twenty two million applications for velodrome tickets? i dont think so there was only around 2 million applications overall, of which 800,000 were succesful in the first round, and then not all for cycling. 22,000,000 is a third of our national population, i'm not sure cycling is that popular.

    22,000,000 was stated on Five Live this morning, or was I dreaming ???
    1.8M people applied for 22M tickets for the whole games........not just cycling

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/13892584.stm

    I think you mean for 8 million* originally available tickets there have been 22 million applications...

    So, surprise surprise, 22 into 8 doesn't go. It's not rocket surgery.

    (* minus 70,000 reserved so athletes from each country can buy two each to give to friends and family for every session in which they are competing)
  • So how much has each tax payer contributed to the olympics bill and then had to pay for a ticket if they were lucky enough to get them.

    You can understand the frustration
    What wheels...? Wheelsmith.co.uk!
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    So how much has each tax payer contributed to the olympics bill


    I dunno. Do you? Should all taxpayers get them free then?

    The UK public gets first crack at the tickets before folks outside the country - no? That's what your tax money buys you. :)
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    London council taxpayers are paying out an additional £250 over ten years to fund the Olympics. If the system was fairer, they'd have had an opportunity to buy tickets ahead of the rest of the country.
  • pb21
    pb21 Posts: 2,170
    andyp wrote:
    London council taxpayers are paying out an additional £250 over ten years to fund the Olympics. If the system was fairer, they'd have had an opportunity to buy tickets ahead of the rest of the country.

    Londoners are going to have a financial benefit greater than the rest of the country though.
    Mañana
  • shm_uk
    shm_uk Posts: 683
    andyp wrote:
    London council taxpayers are paying out an additional £250 over ten years to fund the Olympics. If the system was fairer, they'd have had an opportunity to buy tickets ahead of the rest of the country.

    Can I just say a massive 'Thankyou' to you all. I shall remember your great sacrifice when I'm sat in front of my TV watching the Games in all those shiny new venues.
  • #7rider
    #7rider Posts: 24
    For a start like FA Cup final tickets too many have gone to corporate,s sponsors etc.

    Barely half the tickets in stadium for athletics go to the public.

    If the second chance buying today has a restriction on 3 sessions why was this not in place for original lottery ?

    It seems that only those that applied for mulltiple high priced tickets got any and most got nothing.

    Wiggins is right a bloody shambles
  • Noclue
    Noclue Posts: 503
    I think part of the problem was applicants weren't fully aware of the amount of seats available in each price category, so it was harder to make an informed decision. If you knew that there was only 100 £20 tickets available for an event but 1000 £50 tickets you could reasonably assume you had more chance of getting a £50 ticket, and apply for them with a greater chance of success. Of course there was always going to be those who missed out but alot of the criticism i've heard is just the lack of useful infomation.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    If the tickets had gone on sale on a first come first served basis everyone would have complained and said how they should have done a lottery system.

    Whatever they had done would have been wrong to those who didn't get the tickets they wanted.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Why do people moan about sponsors getting tickets? Without them there would be no games and no money to fund the new facilities and infrastructure unless the tax payer stumped up the extra cash (the moans seem to come from the same people who are moaning about the amount the tax payer has already put in!). As for local schools, my sister teaches in Ilford and they are being allocated tickets (not many though, granted) but they had to join the Get Set scheme. This involves the school demonstrating how they are covering the Olympics in each part of the curriculum.

    Maybe people should look at the greedy people who applied for tickets for sports they didn't even want. Some bloke on Radio 5 was moaning that he applied for a load of tickets and only got some for archery. He was then p***ed off that he couldn't enter the second ballot as he already had tickets for an event he didn't really want to watch. FFS why bother applying for them then? I know plenty of people who applied for dozens of tickets and got none - I applied for 4 for me, the wife and 2 kids and got them (3 day event cross country). They set me back a grand total of £62!

    There are still plenty of opportunities to watch events for free such as the cycling road events (x4), marathon (x2), triathlon (x2) and walking races.

    For all the complaints about the system I haven't heard anyone come up with a better alternative.