Finally.
After weeks of moaning and groaning we have some positive Olympic ticket news. Today, Seb Coe announced that 10,000 tickets will be made available for the armed forces.
Hooray to that.
Given the media frenzy over a ticketing process getting more column inches than anything else, LOGOC have pulled a rabbit from the hat.
Whatever the motive, announcing details of this scheme at this moment is brilliant PR timing – falling as it does between the ballot for the first round closing and the frenzy-to-come of part two.
Of course the cynics will say the whole process has been a PR stunt in itself, the absurdity of the process meaning that it has stayed at the top of the news agenda for weeks.
All the coverage has ramped up desperation for tickets to an unprecedented level that has seen people going to other countries to get hold of tickets. Some would sell their own mother, if you believe some posts on websites.
I myself applied into the first round. I went for six ‘low profile’ events (or so I thought) and got nothing. I was disappointed, but not seething. As someone who has tried to get tickets to Wimbledon and Six Nations Rugby matches in the past, I am fully aware that big events face huge demand.
Seeing the vitriol that has gone the way of the French ticket exchange over the past 24 hours – where thousands of Brits tried to get tickets only for the website to crash – only confirms that the initial approach was right.
Can you imagine the free-for-all if it had been first come, first served? Check out stage two (which I myself will be a part of) in a few weeks for confirmation of that.
I also believe that if people want to go that badly they will find a way – either through other countries’ allocations or through the much-mooted ticket exchange website that is coming early next year. Now is not the time to panic.
Me? I am still pinning all my hopes on volunteering. How many people would apply to do that now given the ticket fiasco? I’m glad I’m in the hat already.
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