Ticket sales for the Rio Games are "lagging behind those of recent Olympics," as only about 79% of the 6.1 million tickets for the event had been sold as of Monday. That is "well behind the final figures" for the 2012 London and 2008 Beijing Games, both of which "sold more than 95% of their seats." However, Rio’s percentage sales already have "beaten those of a number of past summer Olympics," including Athens ('04), Atlanta ('96), Barcelona ('92) and Seoul ('88), none of which "cracked the 80% mark." Most tickets in any host country, typically around 75%, "are sold to locals." Rio organizers are "counting on last-minute demand from locals, as well as some regional and international buyers, to bolster ticket sales" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/3).
BY THE BUSLOAD: Organizers of the Rio Olympics "will bus in schoolchildren to fill empty seats in the venues, with about 1.5 million tickets for events at the Games still unsold." Tickets "are still available for many sports including athletics, which is usually one of the most in-demand events at Olympics." Rio 2016 Dir of Ticketing Donovan Ferreti said, "We have nearly met our ticketing budget so we have a scheme already planned called 'Transformer' where kids and schools can take the empty seats in the venues for free. Many of these will be from poor areas and in some cases we will provide transport too" (LONDON TIMES, 8/3).
OLYMPIC BRIEFS ...
UAE TV viewers "can tune into beIN, OSN and Abu Dhabi Sports channels to watch the Rio 2016 Olympics coverage" from Thursday to Aug. 22.
Etisalat said that both beIN and OSN will be showing Olympics on eLife TV but there "will also be other channels carrying it" from other regional free-to-air feeds. An Etisalat spokesperson said, "BeIN will have dedicated channels in Arabic (HD 1 and HD9). The free-to-air channel will show results and some highlights as well." Abu Dhabi Sports "will have Olympics coverage free on AD Sports 1 in Arabic and also on AD Sports 2 in English." BeIN and Abu Dhabi Sports channels "will be showing Olympics coverage in High Definition (HD) with English and Arabic commentary" (GULF NEWS, 8/2).
Hong Kong fans will be able to watch most of the action from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro "without paying a cent to broadcast rights holder TVB." The local broadcaster "will show over 500 hours of live telecast and highlights on its three free-to-air channels, Jade and Pearl for both analogue and digital TV users, and their digital-only channel J5." For those who want blanket coverage, "they can subscribe to" TVB’s new OTT platform myTV SUPER. The service "will offer eight additional dedicated channels showing over 2,000 hours of action and highlights" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 8/3).
Nigeria’s Olympic footballers "are cutting it fine with their arrival in Rio de Janeiro with their flight expected to touch down in Brazil less than 36 hours before their opening match of the men’s football tournament." Samson Siasia’s squad is "stuck in Atlanta with the charter airline hired to fly them on the last leg of their journey refusing to leave until they have been paid." A source close to the Nigeria Football Federation said, "The money paid by the ministry for the charter flight did not hit airline’s account on Tuesday so they refused to fly the team to Brazil" (London GUARDIAN, 8/3).
The Court of Arbitration for Sport "will deliver a ruling on Jamaican discus thrower Jason Morgan's appeal against his omission from the country's Olympic team based on written submissions instead of through a hearing." Sport's highest court "did not reveal when the ruling, to be made by a three-member CAS panel, would be disclosed, however" (REUTERS, 8/3).
