Got a Tokyo Olympics ticket?

Unrivaled demand causes turmoil
Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, Tokyo Olympic organizers said Thursday they hope to run another ticket lottery next month for residents of Japan who got nothing the first time.
Millions of Japanese were let down last month when they came away empty-handed in a lottery for next year’s Olympics.
The bad news is that — despite a last-minute change of plans — most applicants will be disappointed again.
There simply aren’t enough Olympic tickets to go around with demand soaring in Japan and elsewhere as Authorized Ticket Resellers — the Olympic agents contracted to sell tickets outside Japan — have also opened sales worldwide.
Demand is being driven by the 35 million people who live in Greater Tokyo, and is in sharp contrast to the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where tickets were being given away or went unsold.
“The demand from the general public indeed exceeded our expectations,” Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya told The Associated Press. He said organizers were “absolutely pleased” by the interest.
Takaya said another lottery — open to all Japan residents — would be held by the end of the year as organizers rejigger their plans.
Greg Harney is the senior adviser for Cartan Global, the authorized reseller for much of Latin America and the Caribbean. He’s attending his 19th Olympics, and this is a first.
“I’ve never, never seen interest in attending the Olympics like we have in Tokyo,” Harney told the AP.
Takaya did not say how many tickets had been purchased in Japan so far. He said he would give the number on Friday.
Organizers say there are about 7.8 million tickets for all events. However, an estimate from one previous Olympics suggests that up to 25% of these are off the table immediately, going to sponsors, international federations, 200 national Olympic committees, dignitaries, and so forth. In addition, Tokyo says between 20-30% are set aside for foreign buyers.
An informal estimate by the AP suggests there may be 4-5 million tickets for Japan residents. And that’s probably generous.
Organizers said last month that 7.5 million residents of Japan registered to apply for tickets in the lottery. If each applied for only six tickets — and that seems low — demand would be 10 times over supply.
“This is probably going to be the most popular Olympics, and possibly one of the most popular events of all time,” Ken Hanscom, the chief operating officer of TicketManager, told the AP in an interview.
His Los Angeles-based company does not buy or sell Olympic tickets, but manages tickets for corporate clients.
Alexander Dmitrenko, a Canadian lawyer with residency in Japan, said he applied for 24 tickets — and got two. And was thrilled.
“I’m lucky. I’m going,” he said.
CoSport, an Authorized Ticket Reseller that handles sales for the United States and other countries, has delayed its ticket allocations and acknowledged a shortage in an email to customers.
“Thank you for your record-breaking interest in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which necessitated delayed processing time to help ensure stable and open access to limited national ticket allocations.”
The demand is sure to drive scalping.
Japan passed a law last month that prohibits ticket scalping with the penalty of a 1 million yen ($9,100) fine and a one-year jail term — or both.
However, the law has large loopholes and does not apply to tickets distributed for free or given away as gifts, or tickets without a purchaser’s name. This applies to many tickets coming from the IOC, the 200 national Olympic committees, or major Olympic sponsors.
Japanese organizers have lined up more than 60 local sponsors who kicked in over $3 billion to the local operating budget. In addition, three famous Japanese companies are major, long-time Olympics sponsors: Panasonic, Toyota, and Bridgestone.
The organizing committee hopes to raise about $800 million from ticket sales, a large chunk of its operating budget.
StubHub, an online ticket exchange company based in the United States, has handled tickets for previous Olympics. It is critical of the new Japanese scalping law, which might affect StubHub’s ability to handle tickets this time.
“Unfortunately, the Japanese law is flawed in its attempt to artificially control the ticket marketplace, and fans will likely be negatively impacted,” Jill Krimmel, general manager for sports for StubHub, told the AP. “Instead, StubHub believes that a safe, transparent, and competitive marketplace best serves fans and the games.”
Three years ago at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, IOC member Patrick Hickey of Ireland was arrested on suspicion of ticket scalping. He is suspended from the IOC, but remains a member and has denied any wrongdoing. This was not the first time that a high-ranking member of the IOC or FIFA — soccer’s governing body — was implicated in profiteering on the black market.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman Who Shows Age Is No Barrier to Talk Show Stardom

  1  Pushing a walker through a television studio in central Tokyo earlier this week,  Tetsuko   Kuroyanagi  slowly climbed three steps onto a sound stage with the help of an assistant who settled her into a creamy beige Empire armchair. 2  A stylist removed the custom-made sturdy boots on her feet and slipped on a pair of high-heeled mules. A makeup artist brushed her cheeks and touched up her blazing red lipstick. A hairdresser tamed a few stray wisps from her trademark onion-shaped hairstyle as another assistant ran a lint roller over her embroidered black jacket. With that, Ms.  Kuroyanagi , 90, was ready to record the 12,193rd episode of her show. 3  As one of Japan’s best-known entertainers for seven decades, Ms.  Kuroyanagi  has interviewed guests on her talk show, “ Tetsuko’s  Room,” since 1976, earning a Guinness World Record last fall for  most episodes hosted by the same presenter.  Generations of Japanese celeb...
Read more

Ohtani’s Interpreter Stole $16

Image
  Prosecutors Say Ohtani’s Interpreter Stole $16 Million From Star The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was charged with bank fraud, after prosecutors said he stole money to pay his gambling debts. April 11, 2024. Prosecutors said that the money taken by Ippei Mizuhara, left, came directly from an account where Shohei Ohtani’s baseball salary was paid. Richard Vogel/Associated Press Federal prosecutors said on Thursday that Shohei Ohtani had been the victim of a “fraud on a massive scale,” releasing a detailed complaint that claimed Ippei Mizuhara, the baseball star’s former interpreter, exploited his access and the fact that Ohtani did not speak English to steal $16 million from him to feed his gambling addiction. The account provided by the authorities largely confirms what Ohtani told the public in late March, shortly after reports first surfaced that $4.5 million had been transferred from Ohtani’s account to Mizuhara. At that time, Ohtani explained how he believed Mizuhara had stol...
Read more

Stadiums: past, present and future

 1. Stadiums are among the oldest forms of urban architecture: vast stadiums where the public could  watch sporting events were at the centre of western city life as far back as the ancient Greek and Roman Empires, well before the construction of the great medieval cathedrals and the grand 19th- and 20th-century railway stations which dominated urban skylines in later eras. 2. Today, however, stadiums are regarded with growing 1 scepticism. Construction costs can soar above £1 billion, and stadiums finished for major events such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup have notably fallen into disuse and disrepair. 3. But this need not be the case. History shows that stadiums can drive urban development and adapt to the culture of every age. Even today, architects and planners are finding new ways to adapt the mono-functional sports arenas which became emblematic of modernization during the 20th century. 4. The amphitheatre of Arles in...
Read more