CHAMPS MANIA! Mad rush for tickets at National Stadium
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, March 20, 2010
IT is often said ‘the early bird catches the first worm’. However, that was not the case for scores of patrons seeking grandstand tickets for Saturday’s last day of the highly-anticipated ISSA/GraceKenndey Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships set for March 24 to 27.
Some disgruntled track and field lovers – some of whom arrived at the ticket office next to the Bob Marley Statue on Arthur Wint Drive from as early as 4:00 am yesterday to purchase the nation’s hottest sports commodity – were left cursing their luck after being told that there were no further tickets for sale merely half-an-hour after booths finally opened 10:00 am.
Scores of spectators, some with umbrellas, brave the scorching morning sun outside the National Stadium yesterday, trying to purchase tickets for next week’s 100th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships. The approximately 1,000 available grandstand tickets for Saturday’s fourth and final day of competition were sold out within 30 minutes. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Scores of spectators, some with umbrellas, brave the scorching morning sun outside the National Stadium yesterday, trying to purchase tickets for next week’s 100th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships. The approximately 1,000 available grandstand tickets for Saturday’s fourth and final day of competition were sold out within 30 minutes. (Photo: Bryan Cummings) 1/1
A disgruntled ticket seeker Renford Wright, who claimed he arrived at the ticket booth at 4:30 am, related a story of disorganisation.
“The selling process was very complicated because they told us that the tickets were selling at the usual place, then they come and said is was over the stadium and from over the stadium to the ticket booth again,” Wright said.
“I need about 20 grandstand tickets for me and my family and I only got five,” he added.
The approximately 1,000 grandstand tickets which were made available for Saturday’s last day of competition were sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale at 10:00 am, according to ISSA’s representative Albert Corcho, who was in charge.
“We’ll never have enough grandstand tickets to sell, that is the only problem we’re having,” Corcho said, noting that he observed a large gathering of ticket seekers on arrival at the National Stadium about 6:30 am.
“Based on what happened, we sold almost 1,000 tickets for the grandstand today, which was basically what (remained) after the sponsors had taken up their seats in the grandstand. It was what we had and what we sold this morning,” Corcho added.
The grandstand can seat approximately 5,000 people.
The shortage of grandstand tickets for the much anticipated final day of ‘Champs 100’ did not rest well with some patrons, who complained about scalpers buying large chunks of tickets.
Fred Green, who served as general secretary of ISSA for almost two decades, was among the disappointed tickets seekers.
“We have encouraged scalpers because the moment you make the thing (ticket process) so difficult, scalpers will get in,” Green said. “A lot of people, including some past principals, who used to be involved with Champs (left without tickets),” added the former sports administrator, who used to play a major role in the organisation of Boys’ and Girls’ Championships.
The grandstand tickets, which originally cost $2,000, were being sold for as much as $4,000, after the operators of the ticket office indicated that Saturday’s grandstand tickets were sold out.
Another ticket seeker, Sian Wilson, was equally disappointed after being unable to purchase her desired amount of the commodity for her family and friends.
“It seemed disorganised… They said they were going to open the ticket booth at 10, then they changed and said they were going to open it at 9:30 because so many persons were here. Then they said the Fair Trading Commission claimed that they must not open until 10 and by the time we got to about 10:25, 10:30, they told us that all the grandstand tickets were finished,” Wilson related, indicating that chaos broke out as people started to quarrel and fight.
The Observer’s team witnessed two men fighting in the vicinity of the ticket office yesterday morning. It was unclear whether they were scalpers.
Meanwhile, Corcho, who confirmed that the Fair Trading Commission advised them not to start selling tickets until the advertised time, denied claims that scalpers were allowed to purchase huge chunks of tickets.
“That never happened,” he said. “We took a decision at ISSA that we would not be selling more than 10 tickets to any one person and that has helped tremendously, because you could only come in and buy 10. They (scalpers) were around and they wanted 200 (but we told them) no! Each person was only allotted 10 tickets and it worked for us this year,” Corcho insisted.
“It went fairly well. Some people were disappointed but, by and large I think we satisfied 80 to 90 per cent of those who came this morning,” Corcho added.
During the press conference to officially launch “Champs 100” on March 4 at the Terra Nova Hotel, chairperson of the organising committee Coleen Montaque spoke of the challenge with the limited number of seats in the grandstand.
“Our real challenge at the moment is really the supply of the demand, because the demand is great and we have very limited supply. (With only) 5,000 seats in the grandstand, the public has to recognise we cannot seat everybody in the grandstand and some persons will have go in the bleachers,” Montaque said at the time.