Tickets sold out...and so many empty seats

As feared by my experience talking with Americans destined for South Africa, many tickets are not being used due to the difficulty of selling tickets bought in advance. This does not bode well for FIFA organizers and is not good for the fans who spent at least 80 bucks a pop.

Even with South Africa spending 30 billion Rand ($3.9 billion US) on transportation, telecommunication, and stadiums to prepare for the influx of tourists, the experts say that the lack of infrastructure has something to do with the low attendance. When asked, a FIFA spokesman gave an obviously generic answer stating, “ It looked like a lot of people didn’t show up to the stadium. We are investigating this.”

Not just “a lot of people”--it was up to a third of the seats left vacant for at least one of the first 5 matches. The highly anticipated Algeria/Slovenia match only pulled in around 28,000 people to a 42,000 capacity stadium. Prior to the game, FIFA reported only 700 tickets unsold.

Many reporters say that transportation is probably the main factor while ticket distribution could also be an issue.

I know that when I was searching for tickets on FIFA’s website--the only place to legitimately buy tickets--it was not easy. I would click to purchase and run into error after error reading “no tickets available” even when previous pages showed availability.

Another main factor was the fact that the pre-sale tickets, bought by many over a year ago, were to completely random games. It’d be like getting a ticket for a game in LA, then realize you also won the lottery for a game in Chicago for the next day and then have to make the trek to Houston 2 days later, pretty much impossible for most.

On this rainy day in Cape Town, I think I’ll venture over to the stadium for tonight’s “sold out” Italy vs. Paraguay match and I will see if FIFA starts releasing more of these unused tickets at the door. I’m guessing that I should be able to find a pair, especially in this torrential downpour.

While the tournament so far has gone off without a hitch, and I’m sure empty seats are not the biggest concern for tournament organizers, it is something that won’t go unnoticed. So tonight I’m going to do my part--grab my stars and stripes vuvuzela, throw on my poncho, and fill one of those empty seats dammit, for FIFA’s sake! Look for me in the stands.