Sold Out with Empty Seats at Asian Games

Like many major sporting events before it, the Asian Games (held in Guangzhou China) are experiencing a ticketing problem.  People who want to attend the events cannot find tickets as they have been told for months that events are sold out.  Those with tickets are choosing not to attend.  The result is fans watching from home see many half-empty venues at the backdrop to the action and there is a lost revenue opportunity (merchandise, travel, food and beverage) .

Game officials say the empty seats are due to the large number of corporate sponsor and complimentary volunteer tickets being unused.  Sources say that of the 2.3 million total available tickets, more than half were given away to local city residents and youth Olympic development programs.  An additional amount were distributed to corporate sponsors of the games.

During the first weekend of competition a “sold out” cricket match drew a live attendance of approximately 500 in the new 12,000 seat stadium.

In response, organizers have asked venue directors to open ticket booths on-site and sell extra tickets on a match-by-match basis.  Also, an extra 40,000 tickets were being released, with new ticket booths to be opened around the city.

In the West, for better or worse, we have an established entertainment ticket resale market and system (scalping, StubHub and TicketExchange to name a few).  Attending sporting events is still a very new idea in China and most people don’t consider it an option compared to watching on television.   But as the Chinese market matures, expect to see an online secondary ticket market to emerge.  Whether it is state or privately owned and who will monitor the system will be interesting to see.