Empty Seats

[night]

I've seen quite a few empty seats in some world cup matches matches. Any reason behind this? I was under the impression that all tickets in a world cup event sell out and all stadiums are full.

 

[Recrero152]

South Africa is quite far away and considering the economy we have today, maybe people simply cannot afford it. Or they don't want to take such a long way, who knows. It's all about location, location, location. Plus, some matches have more appeal than others. I mean, it's obvious that a match like for example Spain vs Brazil would get more people and a bigger crowd than New Zeeland and Algeria.

 

[ShearerM4]

Crap games, crap ball, crap atmosphere, annoying atmosphere, empty seats...

Let's just all cut our losses and move the World Cup somewhere else now.

 

[night]

I mean, it's obvious that a match like for example Spain vs Brazil would get more people and a bigger crowd than New Zeeland and Algeria.

That's not true. In previous editions of the world cup, I don't recall matches with empty seats even when top sides are not playing.

 

[Pogba4Now]

I've seen quite a few empty seats in some world cup matches matches. Any reason behind this? I was under the impression that all tickets in a world cup event sell out and all stadiums are full.

I don't think its any different from other world cups. You always see empty seats in games like Slovenia Vs Algeria. Who would want to pay to watch these unless you're algerian or slovenian? Games with big teams like Italy or England have fully packed stadiums so far. Only small games like Korea Vs Greece or Slovenia Vs Algeria have some empty seats.

That's not true. In previous editions of the world cup, I don't recall matches with empty seats even when top sides are not playing.

Either you've forgotten or you didn't realise.

 

[daS]

This is not the best world cup

 

[Recrero152]

That's not true. In previous editions of the world cup, I don't recall matches with empty seats even when top sides are not playing.

Most of the top teams in the tournament are bigger and richer countries meanwhile the smaller teams are smaller countries and have a bit worse economy. And the better economy for the country, the better economy for most of the citizens. That can explain that since South Africa is a long way to go. It all just might be an issue of money which would be a reasonable explanation considering the economy.

 

[yoyo913]

I don't think its any different from other world cups. You always see empty seats in games like Slovenia Vs Algeria. Who would want to pay to watch these unless you're algerian or slovenian? Games with big teams like Italy or England have fully packed stadiums so far. Only small games like Korea Vs Greece or Slovenia Vs Algeria have some empty seats.




Either you've forgotten or you didn't realise.

The Italy and Holland games had a lot of empty seats.

 

[newbie original]

Adebayor's Phone:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8739610.stm

Oh and yeah, I too say PLENTY of empty seats for Cameroon-Japan. Very surprising when that happens for a game involving African teams.

 

[Pogba4Now]

The Italy and Holland games had a lot of empty seats.

Ok fair enough. I didn't really take notice of that. I think the main reason might be that the africans might not be able to afford tickets. I heard some commentator saying that ticket prices are more than what many S. Africans can afford.

EDIT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/13/world-cup-stadiums-empty-seats

Just read that.

World Cup 2010: Fifa investigates thousands of empty seats in stadiums
• Transport and distribution to be reviewed
• Several games had 10,000 empty seats

 

[yoyo913]

Are you on the debate team in school Nady?

You always seem to be against whoever posts above you and you try to come up with any possible argument against them. And your arguments always change when you get rebutted regardless of your actual opinion.

 

[Rocky]

You can always steal tickets if you can't afford them, can't you? I'm sure FIFA took into account the fact that South Africa isn't the wealthiest of nations and priced their tickets accordingly. Maybe South Africans just don't care about the World Cup?

 

[Pogba4Now]

Are you on the debate team in school Nady?

You always seem to be against whoever posts above you and you try to come up with any possible argument against them. And your arguments always change when you get rebutted regardless of your actual opinion.

At least I accept it when I find out that I was wrong.

 

[::shinji::]

Crap games, crap ball, crap atmosphere, annoying atmosphere, empty seats...

Let's just all cut our losses and move the World Cup somewhere else now.

I have to agree here.

Starting to remind me of Italia 90 as far as being a snorefest of a tournament so far..

 

[Lean]

That's the crappiest WC i've ever saw, at least for now. I was too young for Italia 90, but 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 were much, much better. Like ShearerM4 said, crap atmosphere, bad football on show, one of the weirdest and crappiest balls to ever "grace" a football pitch, anyway, what a nightmare of a World Cup.

 

[Pogba4Now]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article505548.ece/Mystery-of-empty-seats

They say many tickets have been sold but many were not able to attend due to "travel problems". I think vuvuzelas might have played a part as well.

Fifa spokesman Delia Fischer said there were empty seats because "some international (and local) customers did not show up; this counted in particular for the matches four, six and 10".

These were matches between Argentina and Nigeria at Ellis Park, Algeria and Slovenia in Polokwane, and Japan and Cameroon in Bloemfontein.

"In Bloemfontein, about 1000 foreigners did not pick up tickets."

Special packages for large organisations and companies, tailored for low-interest games, did sell, but the outcome was poor, said Fischer.

"Lots of ticket holders did not come to the stadium on match days. Most likely reasons for that: distribution and transport problems."

Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot told reporters yesterday that, despite the empty seats, attendance was far better than at the previous World Cup, in Germany in 2006. Maingot said South Africa averaged about 852 more fans per match than Germany in 2006.

"You need to look at the bigger picture. We now have the second-highest attendance average since USA in 1994. Of course, it's not nice to see empty seats at stadiums, and especially not at a World Cup.

"But we're only on day five, so we can't already draw conclusions. It's early," he said.

Maingot said he noticed empty hospitality suites at half-time at the Netherlands-Denmark clash on Monday at Soccer City, near Soweto, and Fifa was investigating this.

In Port Elizabeth, about 8000 ticket holders did not turn up for the match between Greece and South Korea on Saturday, which prompted Fifa officials to launch another investigation.

About 31513 people were at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, which can seat 42486 spectators.

According to Fifa, about 3000 tickets were available on the morning of the match.

For the Algeria and Slovenia match, in Polokwane on Sunday, Fifa said there were 700 unsold tickets at the 41733-capacity Peter Mokaba stadium.

The match between Italy and Paraguay, in Cape Town on Monday night, also showed empty seats. But the appalling weather could have contributed to fans staying away.

If they really think it was due to transport problems, they should've arranged before the WC so that adequate transportation was available for the fans.

 

[treble41]

I wish that the World Cup was always in western Europe or Scandinavia or Italy or somewhere, and I live in Canada. I think that the variance in weather is always good when it's in western Europe because you get rain and heat, the atmosphere seems to be great, and the countries can usually host it without the same type of problems.

I think the reason is partly because people from foreign countries who travel to the WC in numbers, haven't been able to do so because it's in South Africa. People don't wanna go to the games because they might be afraid for their security. I don't blame transportation as the main issue but FIFA will use it as the excuse. And South Africans just can't afford the tickets in numbers, I mean, there may be 7000 England fans and 8000 American fans which can fill up the stadium but the rest must be residents of South Africa. When it's in another European country like say Germany, people from other European countries can easily travel, but there aren't exactly any rich countries near South Africa from which a hoarde of neutrals can come to watch the World Cup. Really was an idiotic idea to give the World Cup to South Africa this early just because they wanted it to happen in Africa. I think that some of the northern African countries might have been better choices, I mean Europeans could easily travel to Morocco or Algeria which are actually tourist spots as well. And most of all, we aren't even hearing about some of the problems in South Africa like how they're hiding a large portion of their homeless population. I remember seeing images of fanzones everywhere when it was in Germany for the people who couldn't be at the stadium for games, I don't see any of them in South Africa.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

LOL at "2nd highest since 94". You mean this is 2/4? Bravo.

 

[Pogba4Now]

I wish that the World Cup was always in western Europe or Scandinavia or Italy or somewhere, and I live in Canada. I think that the variance in weather is always good when it's in western Europe because you get rain and heat, the atmosphere seems to be great, and the countries can usually host it without the same type of problems.

Its the WORLD cup. Not the Euro.

I think the reason is partly because people from foreign countries who travel to the WC in numbers, haven't been able to do so because it's in South Africa. People don't wanna go to the games because they might be afraid for their security. I don't blame transportation as the main issue but FIFA will use it as the excuse. And South Africans just can't afford the tickets in numbers, I mean, there may be 7000 England fans and 8000 American fans which can fill up the stadium but the rest must be residents of South Africa. When it's in another European country like say Germany, people from other European countries can easily travel, but there aren't exactly any rich countries near South Africa from which a hoarde of neutrals can come to watch the World Cup. Really was an idiotic idea to give the World Cup to South Africa this early just because they wanted it to happen in Africa. I think that some of the northern African countries might have been better choices, I mean Europeans could easily travel to Morocco or Algeria which are actually tourist spots as well. And most of all, we aren't even hearing about some of the problems in South Africa like how they're hiding a large portion of their homeless population. I remember seeing images of fanzones everywhere when it was in Germany for the people who couldn't be at the stadium for games, I don't see any of them in South Africa.

South Africa are the most financially stable African team. They're much more advanced than other African countries. Algeria or Morocco wouldn't be able to host the WC on their own. Impossible.

LOL at "2nd highest since 94". You mean this is 2/4? Bravo.

That was just for comparisons sake. They just want to point out that attendance this time is as good as the previous World Cups. I guess thats because the S. African stadiums have high capacity.

 

[night]

Okay so we're into the round of 16 and there were a lot of empty seats in the South Korea-Uruguay match. What the f*ck? Rain is no excuse..