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Britain
London 2012 Olympics: 'fiasco' of the 12,000 empty seats
2012-07-30
[Telegraph.uk]Lord Coe, the chairman of London 2012, was accused of breaking a promise that unsold and unused corporate tickets would be given to the public, while Sir Menzies Campbell, an observer on the board of Games organisers Locog, described the situation as depressing.

Athletes who had been unable to get tickets for their families to watch them compete said it was "absurd" and "ridiculous" that whole blocks of seats remained empty at some venues.

Locog insisted that off-duty soldiers, as well as local schoolchildren and teachers, be taken by bus to venues to help fill the gaps, as Lord Coe ordered an urgent investigation into why so many seats have been empty.

A survey by The Daily Telegraph found that at least 12,000 seats were unused yesterday, not including football stadiums, where tens of thousands of seats have been unoccupied for some matches.

Popular events such as gymnastics, tennis and swimming had swathes of empty seats despite members of the public being told that they were sold out.
Posted by:Fred

#7  Tragic that China put on such a superior event.
Posted by: Iblis   2012-07-30 22:52  

#6  I missed watching the opening ceremony, but looks like a lot of people anyway on the regular News???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-07-30 20:43  

#5  I thought all the off-duty soldiers had to patrol because the security committee fouled so bad.

The whole thing has been a foul up from the opening ceremony. Even if you believe in the NHS, does showcasing modern accessible medicine involve a hospital with 80+ year old equipment where doctors and nurses lock the kids up in their rooms and go dancing, scaring the kids so badly they have nightmares about that short pudgy guy from Seinfield? Also like the part where the druggy hipsters went dancing on the hill the military so dutifully hiked up in the previous scene, real class there. Oh, and your fat American bags, I noticed all the fatties were dressed in the black/white diamond checker outfits. In fact, quite a few looked overweight.

But that picture, where the actor kidnaps the Queen and kicks her out of the helicopter. Wow. Yes, I know what it was meant to be, what I'm saying is that is some pop culture bullcrap. It was so bad, I switched to the baseball game, you know baseball not good enough for this olympics, between the Royals and Mariners two of the worst teams in the game.

And that is just the start. So far every event requiring a judging has been aweful.

-pauses to come back up for air-
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-07-30 17:43  

#4  Sir Menzies Campbell, an observer on the board of Games organisers Locog, described the situation as depressing.

Well, I see a partial explanation right there; although I do admit I am a might confused by the Sir part.
Posted by: Shinter Javirong9154   2012-07-30 15:39  

#3  They. Just. Don't. Care.

They're getting more and more open with this stuff. From their point of view, why even bother concealing their contempt for the masses? It's actually hilarious to pull shit like this and watch the masses squeal.
Posted by: gromky   2012-07-30 08:17  

#2  The tone was set some time ago.These games have received loads of media news.Most of it negative.
Posted by: Dale   2012-07-30 06:25  

#1  Feckless POMS.

"You know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out," Romney told NBC.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-07-30 02:58  

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