How to fill empty stadiums
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
More worryingly, for the Commonwealth Games Federation and the next hosts, Glasgow, are the stagnant television ratings around the world.
These Commonwealth Games, beset by disastrous preparations, were supposed to be rescued by the athletic competition and the enthusiastic support of locals.
But the first days have not been encouraging. Swimmers have been performing in front of team-mates and relations at the 5,000-capacity Mukherjee swimming stadium, while the shouts of the hockey players echo around the near-empty 16,000-seat national stadium.
"English athletes love to perform in front of a crowd and it is disappointing for an event such as this not to have that," said England chef de mission Craig Hunter. [@]
The colourful, noisy cacophony of the opening ceremony has dissipated into a silent hell at some of the competitions. Only the boxing – almost full on Tuesday when local Indians were competing – has a decent crowd.
Interest is expected to build in the next few days, especially after India won several gold medals in the shooting. The much hyped hockey match between India and Pakistan is a sell out.
In a press conference that was so comical it has been dubbed the Commonwealth Carry-on, the chairman of the organising committee Suresh Kalmadi insisted that the interest in the Games was high, but blamed lacklustre interest on the first day because the spectators were recovering from the long evening the night before at the opening ceremony.
Stretching credulity, he said the Indians were tired from the late night and they would respond as the Games move on. "Tomorrow there won't be any problem," he added.
But local ticket sellers say the problem is the price: even 100 rupees can be too high for a country beset by poverty.
Negative publicity about corruption, the daytime scheduling which makes it difficult for workers to attend and the tight security, which has made moving around the venues quite difficult, have also been blamed.
The withdrawal of several high profile athletes, most notably Usain Bolt, has had an impact. How much impact, the chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennell wouldn't quantify. "It is too early to tell," he said.
Yet Kalmadi was being encouragingly enthusiastic when he insisted all of the tickets will be sold. ''The situation was rectified - we will sell all the tickets. At every stadium there are ticket box offices, queues up to a mile."
Lalit Bhanot, the organising committee secretary general, said 40 to 50 per cent of 600,000 available tickets had been sold and a strong effort was being made to sell large blocks of available seats at the big venues that will host the track and field and the sevens rugby.
One idea being discussed is distributing tickets to schoolchildren.
Sunday's opening ceremony, broadcast at a favourable time, attracted a peak audience of 3.6 million viewers on the BBC, but ratings have bounced between 4.1 per cent and 17.3 per cent of the audience, against an average for the 2006 Melbourne Games of 15.8 per cent. In Australia and Canada too the early ratings are well down.
The broadcasters' first aim is to make the stadiums look as busy as possible. The instructions have already gone out to camera operators to shoot tight to disguise the lack of spectators.
Fennell said that, overall, he was very happy with the start of the Commonwealth Games but the one area of concern was the lack of spectators.
''This is an organising committee matter, but as custodians of the Games we like to know the seats are filled."
These Commonwealth Games, beset by disastrous preparations, were supposed to be rescued by the athletic competition and the enthusiastic support of locals.
But the first days have not been encouraging. Swimmers have been performing in front of team-mates and relations at the 5,000-capacity Mukherjee swimming stadium, while the shouts of the hockey players echo around the near-empty 16,000-seat national stadium.
"English athletes love to perform in front of a crowd and it is disappointing for an event such as this not to have that," said England chef de mission Craig Hunter. [@]
The colourful, noisy cacophony of the opening ceremony has dissipated into a silent hell at some of the competitions. Only the boxing – almost full on Tuesday when local Indians were competing – has a decent crowd.
Interest is expected to build in the next few days, especially after India won several gold medals in the shooting. The much hyped hockey match between India and Pakistan is a sell out.
In a press conference that was so comical it has been dubbed the Commonwealth Carry-on, the chairman of the organising committee Suresh Kalmadi insisted that the interest in the Games was high, but blamed lacklustre interest on the first day because the spectators were recovering from the long evening the night before at the opening ceremony.
Stretching credulity, he said the Indians were tired from the late night and they would respond as the Games move on. "Tomorrow there won't be any problem," he added.
But local ticket sellers say the problem is the price: even 100 rupees can be too high for a country beset by poverty.
Negative publicity about corruption, the daytime scheduling which makes it difficult for workers to attend and the tight security, which has made moving around the venues quite difficult, have also been blamed.
The withdrawal of several high profile athletes, most notably Usain Bolt, has had an impact. How much impact, the chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennell wouldn't quantify. "It is too early to tell," he said.
Yet Kalmadi was being encouragingly enthusiastic when he insisted all of the tickets will be sold. ''The situation was rectified - we will sell all the tickets. At every stadium there are ticket box offices, queues up to a mile."
Lalit Bhanot, the organising committee secretary general, said 40 to 50 per cent of 600,000 available tickets had been sold and a strong effort was being made to sell large blocks of available seats at the big venues that will host the track and field and the sevens rugby.
One idea being discussed is distributing tickets to schoolchildren.
Sunday's opening ceremony, broadcast at a favourable time, attracted a peak audience of 3.6 million viewers on the BBC, but ratings have bounced between 4.1 per cent and 17.3 per cent of the audience, against an average for the 2006 Melbourne Games of 15.8 per cent. In Australia and Canada too the early ratings are well down.
The broadcasters' first aim is to make the stadiums look as busy as possible. The instructions have already gone out to camera operators to shoot tight to disguise the lack of spectators.
Fennell said that, overall, he was very happy with the start of the Commonwealth Games but the one area of concern was the lack of spectators.
''This is an organising committee matter, but as custodians of the Games we like to know the seats are filled."
Labels: Commonwealth Games Economics
posted @ 9:19 AM,
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