BOCOG Yet To Truly Relax Access Restrictions To Olympic Green
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BOCOG Says It's Taking Measures To
Encourage People To Visit Olympic Green |
BOCOG has not moved to relax restrictions limiting access to the Olympic Green, but today the organization said that it is continuing to organize people and travel agencies to visit the area. During its daily press briefing today, BOCOG Exec VP Wang Wei said that the organization had witnessed about “250,000 people inside the Olympic Green.” Sponsors have complained that not enough people have been allowed to access the Olympic Green, where many of them spent millions of dollars building brand showcases designed to reach Chinese consumers. But Wei said that people are visiting the sponsor showcasing area, and added that the organization would take measures to encourage more people to enter the Olympic Green. “Perhaps maybe (the people) are not on the streets because the Olympic Green is a huge area,” Wang said. “Upon our estimation, everyday we are planning to increase more people, to encourage more people to go into the Olympic Green.” Wang said BOCOG also is organizing communities and travel agencies to visit the Green (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal). IOC Press Commission Chair Kevan Gosper: "We've been saying: 'You're missing a great opportunity to get more of your people in here to celebrate your games.'" Wang said that about 40,000 people passed through the Olympic Green Monday, but the IOC "suggested the figure should be increased up to 200,000 daily and that organizers issue more passes to allow visitors into the green." IOC Marketing Commission Chair Gerhard Heiberg yesterday said BOCOG officials have promised an improvement. Heiberg: “We hope this is going to take place. We need more people to have a higher atmosphere." USOC VP/Int'l Relations Bob Ctvrtlik yesterday said, "When I went out, there was a small trickle of people walking through. Access is difficult and security is incredibly tight (AP, 8/12).
SPONSOR PAINS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Blumenstein & Fong report access to the Olympic Green "has been strictly limited," and some "major Olympic sponsors that invested millions of dollars to pitch their brands from elaborately constructed pavilions are fuming." Sources said that several "high-profile sponsors were expecting 200,000 visitors a day and instead have seen just 20% of that, making it very difficult to justify the costs that surpass $150[M]." Sponsors "have been pushing Olympic officials to remedy the situation, warning that it could result in sponsors being reluctant to pony up money again for the London Games." However, some companies, such as IOC TOP sponsor Samsung, "which have outdoor events at night, say they have been satisfied with the crowds." adidas China Communications Manager Katja Schreiber, whose company has a pavilion on the Green, said "Obviously, it would have been nice to see more numbers earlier. But we are seeing a growing trend, which will continue once the track and field competition" begins later this week (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/13). In DC, Thomas Boswell writes, "Walk the Green at every time of day ... and it's always the same." It is full of "gorgeous, mammoth, colorful architecture," but "eventually you realize that ... there's nobody there." Meanwhile, the Green "largely is inhospitable," and "all seats are stone and backless." Boswell added of the Green, "How can anything so big, expensive and ... stunningly beautiful be so dysfunctional and hostile to the people who use it?" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/13).
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