Olympic tickets

[Mark]

The tickets for the 2012 London games go on sale shortly. Does anyone intend to buy tickets and go to the games?

Personally I'd quite like the idea of attending an Olympic event, as it's kind of a once in a lifetime thing, but I absolutely hate the idea of going into London for it. It's a nightmare there at the best of times, but while the Olympics is on? forgetaboutit!

Unfortunately the only venues outside of London are Weymouth for the sailing (a bit far!) and various places, including Newcastle :D , for football.. tbh I'd be quite happy to go and see any type of sport you care to mention - with the exception of football!

[Sonic]

Yes and yes. As you say a once in a lifetime thing, so, quite frankly, screw the 16 hours I'll spend getting there and back and bring it on :)

[Dave B]

Thanks to HS1 I can get from my front door to Stratford inside an hour. We've been looking at some of the £20 tickets for the diving and athletics qualifiers and weighing up whether you'd see much from that distance. Tempting just to stay at home and watch it on the telly.

[Mark]

Thanks to HS1 I can get from my front door to Stratford inside an hour. We've been looking at some of the £20 tickets for the diving and athletics qualifiers and weighing up whether you'd see much from that distance. Tempting just to stay at home and watch it on the telly.

Aye, so if yourself who can get there in under an hour is having second thoughts, what about the likes of myself who will have to spend at least 5 hours getting here. Which means staying overnight, which is extortionate in London at the best of times.

[GridGirl]

It's the whole ballot system that I find daunting. We would really like to see mountain biking and BMX in particular but does just one if us apply or both of us. There are other events that we'd like to watch too but do we enter to the ballots or just ride our luck. In theory we could be successful with every ballot but at the same time we could end up with nothing at all. When you apply you give them your banking details so if your successful you get the tickets and they take the money. Unless I'm in the wrong in thinking that you don't have a chance to decline a sucessful ballot application.

[Mark]

I guess it depends how popular things are? Getting in to see the 100metres final would probably be nigh on impossible, but the mountain biking would attract less of a crowd. Certainly some events in China were very poorly attended.

But there's a big problem in selling tickets now, in that peoples lives and priorities change, you buy tickets now in March 2011 but my August 2012 you could have got married, had kids, be living in a different country, any number of things which mean you can't attend.

If there is no option to hand your tickets back for a refund it'll just end up in a massive black market.

[Hazell B]

.... end up in a massive black market.

Does it count as a black market if people are selling on in a perfectly legal open marketplace, such as ebay, etc? I don't really think so.

Anyway, I've already been offered a spare for part of the equestrian games (by a course builder I know) but I'm not going as a) he's clearly thinking with his underbrain! and b) I just cannot be bothered with what has been described to me as 'the worst security system ever' that's currently in place. It seems the police and so on have a plan that almost all of the non-stadium events can see is pure drivel and nobody in the know about these things feels is workable or safe. They'll probably throw out the competitors and allow in the gypsies, is how it's been explained to me :p :
If I had to enter the ballot and pay the frankly highwayman style prices, I sure as hell wouldn't be going. Games for the People my arse! Games for the rich and shameless, more like!

[GridGirl]

If I had to enter the ballot and pay the frankly highwayman style prices, I sure as hell wouldn't be going. Games for the People my arse! Games for the rich and shameless, more like!

We want to see mountaining biking which will cost either £20 or £40 per ticket which on first glance doesn't appear that highly priced. Then when you compare it to going to see a round of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Dalby in May which will cost £8 per day it does seem to be a rip off. We went to Dalby last year and plan on going again this year but at the same time know we will see the exact same riders that we would see at the Olympics. I suppose it is once in a lifetime experience to go to the Olympics though.

[Mark]

Does it count as a black market if people are selling on in a perfectly legal open marketplace, such as ebay, etc? I don't really think so.


Depends on your point of view. If your selling for the face value I see no problem. If you're attempting to make a profit that's another matter.

[Hazell B]

Depends on your point of view. If your selling for the face value I see no problem. If you're attempting to make a profit that's another matter.

Selling at profit on an auction site isn't a black market. It's people offering to buy - their choice.

I don't see why anybody should be branded part of a black market just for doing what Tesco do every day. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy from them.

Black markets are illegal selling, pure and simple. Avoiding tax on products, selling with no legal rights, etc. are black market.

Anyway, I think there'll be a deadline for saying yes or no to balloted tickets. It should be nearer the time, but who knows with this stupid country these days? :mark:

[Dave B]

Does it count as a black market if people are selling on in a perfectly legal open marketplace, such as ebay, etc? I don't really think so.

Apparently so:



Selling tickets for the London 2012 Games without permission was first made a criminal offence by the London Olympic and Paralympic Games Act 2006, with fines of up to £5,000.


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12700903

[Mark]

I wasn't planning to, but then again I have a mates in Islington, Finsbury Park, and Highbury so should take advantage of free accomodation lol. I did hear that tickets for the mens 100m final are expected to be around 700 quid!!!

Probably the worst value sporting event in terms of seconds of action per pound :p

[Dave B]

Probably the worst value sporting event in terms of seconds of action per pound :p

So what's the best value? You'd think the marathon, at £20 for >2 hours action, but you only get to see the runners go past you once - unlike the London Marathon there aren't thousands of amateurs following up the pack. Although perhaps there should be - it's always amusing to see a bloke in a diving bell taking six days to complete the course.

[BDunnell]

So what's the best value? You'd think the marathon, at £20 for >2 hours action, but you only get to see the runners go past you once - unlike the London Marathon there aren't thousands of amateurs following up the pack. Although perhaps there should be - it's always amusing to see a bloke in a diving bell taking six days to complete the course.

What would be even better than that, and what I think they should do in the London Marathon, is not start the elite athletes first, but have them battle through the fun-runners. Now that would be worth watching.

[Captain VXR]

They'll probably throw out the competitors and allow in the gypsies, is how it's been explained to me :p :
all but one competitor? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12522781) :p
The UK's Police get security wrong far too often, something that probably won't change any time soon

[humpakistani]

Thank you so much of your telling and i will try to bought them online and i am so much fond of olympics and this time they will be more interested games because this time they are going to held in london and i hope we all will enjoy them so much

[Hazell B]

So what's the best value?

Eventing - it's a whole day of varied events if you go on the cross country day.
Not many people here's cup of tea, though :p :

Of course, the chance of a member of our Royal family (or any of the other competitors) falling off in front of you makes it worth it sometimes ..... and we ARE going to win a medal :up:

[GridGirl]

I have been looking at olympics tickets today and think I will apply for BMX Friday 10th August to see both the semi finals and finals for women and men and Saturday 11th August for the womens cross country mountain biking. Although applying for the mens mountain biking the next day does also sound quite appealing. :)

I'm not going to apply until nearer the ticket deadline though as I will have more of an idea of how much money will be in my bank account if I'm successful in getting some tickets. I have read today that London 2012 will be offering a re-sale website so that if you do get tickets and don't want them you can sell them legitimately. The only prolem being that they are not launching the website until next year so you could have your money tied up in tickets you dont want for quite some time.

[Dave B]

I think I'll save the money I would have spent on tickets and travel, and put it towards a huge BBQ and a bracket so I can have a huge TV in the gazebo :cool:

[Dave B]

Yay! The countdown clock in Trafalgar Sq has broken. It's been running for nearly a whole day now. This is going to be great, isn't it? Oh, and the website won't accept your Visa card if it runs out in August - they say it's Visa's fault, Visa blame the website.

Can you say "brewery" and "pissup"?

[Hazell B]

Can you say "brewery" and "pissup"?

Not if you work for the Olympic organisers.
You'd say 'prewery' and 'bissup'

[Hondo]

Wouldn't shock me at all if the Olympic Village isn't vandalized, burned, and pillaged to some degree before the first events.

[Mark]

Wouldn't shock me at all if the Olympic Village isn't burned, and pillaged to some degree before the first events.

Just be careful of the Danish team...

[Hazell B]

Just be careful of the Danish team...

Well, at least they'd be quicker than the local yobs then :p :

Just looked at the Eventing ticket prices. I could go to any of the established world class events and see the same competition for half the figures. Get a better view, too. Over a quarter of a million people go to Badminton Horse Trails each year and none of them pay anything like as much as the Olympic prices.

Paralympic tickets don't go on sale until September and I'm crossing my fingers they are cheaper. I'd really like to go see Lee Pearson win us another para-dressage clean sweep, even though I can get into the able-bodied Olympics for free on a pass.

[Dave B]

Food & drink and mobile phones look likely to be banned from the arenas:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/8388658/London-2012-Olympics-water-mobile-phones-and-sandwiches-could-be-banned.html

Do one, Olympics. I'm not paying stupid money for a bottle of water in the middle of August, nor paying inflated prices for crappy food when I can make a bag of sandwiches for a couple of quid. And I'm not travelling into the capital without a mobile phone.

Utterly stupid.

[Mark]

Food and Drink I can appreciate, as they want to maximise the profits from the overprices outlets there. But mobile phones? No way, that'll never work. I'm not going to go out without my mobile, especially not in a busy place like that, and nor am I going to hand it in at a desk.

To be fair they do say "The mobile phone ban is likely to be enforced only in venues where silence is required during the event, such as gymnastics and archery."

However they have the same issue at Wimbledon and they manage it through signage and frequent announcements, even thought there's usually one mobile that goes off during the match!

[Dave B]

Food and Drink I can appreciate, as they want to maximise the profits from the overprices outlets there.
It's worth pointing out that Coca Cola and McDonalds are amongst the sponsors of this sporting event.


To be fair they do say "The mobile phone ban is likely to be enforced only in venues where silence is required during the event, such as gymnastics and archery."
What happens at the cinema, a concert, the opera, a comedy show, the theatre, or the many other non-Olympic sporting events? They seem to manage alright.

[GridGirl]

But you haven't work and trained hard for four years when your at the cinema, comedy show or the theatre. I for one would be pretty peeved if my chance at a medal was ruined by some moron on the phone to his mate 'yeah, I'm on the right hand side....yeah....right next to the McDonalds sign...'

[Dave B]

But you haven't work and trained hard for four years when your at the cinema, comedy show or the theatre. I for one would be pretty peeved if my chance at a medal was ruined by some moron on the phone to his mate 'yeah, I'm on the right hand side....yeah....right next to the McDonalds sign...'
True, but now imagine your lifelong ambition was to make it to the final of the World Snooker Championship. They somehow seem to cope with people putting their phones on silent. Yes you get the very rare exception but it's no worse than somebody coughing or sneezing.

[GridGirl]

Dave, I can see your point but a Snooker world final is the first to 17 (or 19?) frames compared to say 90 seconds gymnastics. You could have taken or missed lots of good chances during a match to take the title. I dont quite think that it is comparable to working hard for something that will be over and done with in less than 2 minutes. Also, the setting and mentality of the fans is also quite different in Snooker compared to many other sports. :)

[Hondo]

It's worth pointing out that Coca Cola and McDonalds are amongst the sponsors of this sporting event.


What happens at the cinema, a concert, the opera, a comedy show, the theatre, or the many other non-Olympic sporting events? They seem to manage alright.

It's also worth pointing out that Coca Cola and McDonalds paid huge amounts of money into British pockets for those "sponsorships", which more properly should be referred to as concessionaire contracts and have the right to charge what the market will bear in order to cover their investments. On the other hand, except for taxes used for building the grand, money losing Olympic village and such, Olympic involvement is voluntary. If you don't feel the show is worth the money spent to see it, don't go. Stay home, especially since your importance to the world requires you to be available by cell phone 24 hours a day. Maybe Obama will call.

[BDunnell]

It's also worth pointing out that Coca Cola and McDonalds paid huge amounts of money into British pockets for those "sponsorships", which more properly should be referred to as concessionaire contracts and have the right to charge what the market will bear in order to cover their investments.

Neither should have been allowed to sponsor the Olympics, given that neither exactly promotes health and fitness.

[Hondo]

Nothing wrong with that. The Olmpics exploit health and fitness to make money. Were it only for the joy of spreading health and fitness, the Olympics would've died out when TV came along. Those lucrative TV contracts keep it going by selling ad time to anyone that wants to pander their product as the official nose pick of the blah blah olympic team.