Olympic Ticket Debit Deadline

Allegedly, according to Locog, today is the deadline day (a movable feast if ever ther was one!) for when the "vast majority" of successful Olympic ticket applicants will have their accounts debited.

The Telegraph reports that most applicants appear to have received between 10%-20% of what they applied for.

However, the successful applicants (despite being charged now) will not be told until next month what they have got.

The "lottery nature" of the allocation process has effectively forced fans to bid for more than they actually want, in order to increase their chances of being successful. All very well if you have the funds to gamble in this manner, not so easy for those fans who are less well off.

Was it not Locog who claimed that they wanted the ticket purchasing process to be fair?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Ongoing Olympic Ticket Farce - Deadlines Change

I see that Locog have subtly shifted the deadline for collecting money from the bank accounts of those deemed worthy to be allocated a ticket for the 2012 Olympics.

Locog now claim that they started taking cash for tickets on Wednesday, and hope to have collected the vast majority of funds within a week.

Locog claim that the process should be completed by June 10.

Wednesday was originally the deadline for having collected the majority of the money owed.

Good isn't it?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Train and Tube Service Improved For Games

The Evening Standard claims that London's tube and train services will be improved to cope with the extra demand during next year's Olympics.

Allegedly, according to the Olympics hype, more than 2,000 extra services will run during the Games in late July and early August 2012, and more than 1,500 extra services will be laid on during the Paralympics in late August and early September.

There will be train departures from London as late as 1.30am, whilst some tube services will leave central London as late as 2am.

Network Rail has suspended all disruptive engineering work on rail routes serving Olympic venues from the end of June to early September 2012. There will also be no weekend closures on London Underground.

All very nice, if this actually happens.

However, given that the transport system could do with improvements such as this irrespective of the Olympics, why are these improvements not made permanent?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Ongoing Olympic Ticket Farce - Midnight Deadline

Locog have promised to have charged 60% of the successful Olympic ticket applicants by today (Wednesday) midnight.

According to the Guardian, Locog still claim that their "fluid" deadline stands; despite the fact there is little evidence that many people have seen money moved from their accounts.

Lord Coe admits that the ticketing system is not perfect, no kidding!?

However, he claims that Locog were right not to publicise the fact that British citizens could have bought tickets for the games (on a first come, first served basis) from foreign websites.

For why?

Locog were protecting the applicants from scammers.

Hmmm...how very noble of them!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Ongoing Olympic Ticket Farce

The London 2012 organising committee has promised that 60% of the monies owed by successful British Olympic ticket applicants will have been debited by tomorrow (Wednesday).

However, the BBC has yet to come across a single applicant who has had a card debited.

Meanwhile sites that are selling tickets to European citizens (BTW, Britain is part of Europe) have been inundated, eg the Sportsworld website states:

"Please Note: We are currently reviewing existing ticket orders and as a result there are no London 2012 Olympic Games tickets available until further notice."

It would appear that had British ticket applicants known about legitimate (be warned there are scam sites popping up like mushrooms) sites selling tickets (that confirm whether or not an application is successful immediately) they would have used them, rather than submitting themselves to the inconvenience and financial risk of Locog's incredibly daft and cumbersome process.

In the unlikely event that anyone has actually had some money debited by Locog, please feel free to drop me a line.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Olympic Ticket Farce Continues

Despite the fact that the 1.8 million British citizens who applied for roughly 20 million Olympic tickets have yet to know if they have been successful, those who live abroad are happily buying tickets for next year's games without any problems or delays.

How is this possible?

The Telegraph reports that non UK websites are offering almost a million tickets for specific events at face value.

The tickets have been passed to authorised resellers by more than 200 Olympic committees around the world.

Well done Locog!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Money Up Front

The London organising committee (Locog) continues to defend its ticket allocation and payment process (described by Boris Johnson as "a bit peculiar").

It has begun to deduct money from applicants' bank accounts. However, it may be as late as 24 June before those charged know what tickets they have been allocated.

Why do it in this manner?

Locog have provided the answer to the Telegraph:

"It is really important..is our ability to nail our revenues from tickets."

As noted before on this site, the Olympics are about money not sport.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Legacy of Failure

In 2007 I wrote the following:

"The London ODA continues to heap embarrassment and opprobrium upon itself, not content with allowing the budget to run out of control and not even being able to set a firm price for the stadium, they have now managed to attract derision and scorn for the lousy design of the 2012 London Olympics stadium.

The design was revealed yesterday, with all the usual hype and pr spin usually reserved for a third world dictatorship.

The result?

A very predictable damp squib.

A boring oval shaped stadium that has no defining features of beauty or originality, and worse it will have to down size from a capacity of 80,000 during the games to 25,000 afterwards.

Why?

Simple, there is no need for a stadium in that part of London. At best it will used, maybe, by a football club."

Today the Telegraph states that "the London Olympic board was warned by its own advisers more than three years ago that a Premier League football club would be incompatible with athletics if a permanent track was retained in the main stadium".

In other words, the "legacy" of athletics stadium and football stadium suits no one.

However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The fact that West Ham have been relegated from the Premiership, means that they no longer fit the criteria of a "premier League club" as defined by the report.

Problem solved!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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West Ham Committed

It seems that there are some cynics who doubt West Ham's ability/willingness to takeover the Olympic stadium after the 2012 games.

They cite West Ham's fragile finances and its relegation from the Premier League.

However, West Ham claim to remain committed.

The Telegraph states that whatever the impact of demotion on the club's finances, it will not changes plans to make the £486M stadium their new home after the London 2012 Games.

"We remain totally committed to it. Our target is to move there in three football seasons time and we would hope that we would return to the Premier League as soon as possible."

No problem then.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Day of Reckoning

Today is the day of reckoning for the 1.8 million people who applied for 20 million tickets for the 2012 Olympics.

Money will start to be withdrawn from the accounts of those who have been allocated tickets today.

However, owing to the rather flawed ticket purchasing process, Logoc won't inform the buyers that money has been taken.

Some people may well be in for a financial shock in the coming days, if they were foolish enough to order more tickets than they could afford to pay for.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Spurs Fights On

In February West Ham won the approval of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) for taking over the Olympic stadium after the 2012 games.

However, Tottenham Hotspur their rivals for the stadium were not happy and last month launched an application for a judicial review into Newham Council's role in arranging a £40M loan to finance West Ham's move to the stadium.

The Telegraph reports that Spurs have taken further action and have asked the High Court to start a separate judicial review into the roles of several other key parties involved in awarding West Ham the stadium.

A Tottenham statement read:

"The club has today sought permission from the High Court to bring a claim against the Olympic Park Legacy Company Limited, the Mayor of London, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for judicial review of a series of decisions made by them to appoint a joint bid by the London Borough of Newham and West Ham United Football Club as preferred bidder in a competition for the lease of the Olympic Stadium.

As previously reported, the club continues to hold discussions with both local and national government bodies in order to seek to agree a feasible stadium solution."

Sour grapes, or is this equivalent to the FIFA scandal now developing?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Ticketing Cock Up

Owing to the complexity of the ticket allocation process (a process reviewed and approved of by Locog), Locog have been forced to delay debiting the accounts of successful ticket applicant from May 10 to May 16 at the earliest.

This delay leaves the 1.8 million ticket applicants in limbo for at least another week.

Well done lads!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Olympic Bribe

In spite of, or probably because of, the Rail Maritime and Transport union's looming six walkouts that will cripple London's Tube system in the coming weeks; it seems that the government is set to bribe the RMT not to strike during the Olympics next year.

Media reports indicate that the government is preparing to offer Tube workers pay rises, designed to be large enough to "persuade" the RMT not to strike during the games.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Style Over Substance

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has managed to dig itself into a hole, over its dress code for women badminton players in the London 2012 Olympics.

It has ruled that women players must wear dresses or skirts, irrespective of whether they wear shorts/trousers underneath.

For why?

The Telegraph quotes Paisan Rangsikitpho, the BWF deputy president, who said that there was no sexism involved in the decision but that the federation wanted to differentiate the women's game.

"We need to be able to able to differentiate the women's game and the ruling is part of a larger campaign to enhance the presentation profile of the sport.

This is to help attract a wider target group amongst both younger and older people, and amongst both women and men, where an aesthetic and stylish presentation of the players is certainly an important factor."

Surely people can tell the difference between male and female badminton players, irrespective of whether they are in shorts, skirts, dresses or trousers?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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The Olympic Debt

Moneywise reports that approximately 1.8 million people have applied for an estimated 20 million London 2012 Olympics tickets, with many people possibly booking more tickets than they can afford.

The average ticket application apparently exceeds 10 per person and, with an average ticket price of between £50 and £200, Moneywise predict that applicants are set to receive bills of hundreds or even thousands of pounds in the next few weeks.

Given that reselling on the open market is illegal, the ticket applicants faced with more tickets than they need can either wait to sell them on next year through an official re-selling platform, or sell them to family and friends (not on the open market).

Maybe it would have been easier and less expensive for Olympics fans simply to watch the Olympics on TV from the comfort of their own homes?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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