The organisers of London 2012 are not making too many tickets available to
Olympic sponsors at the expense of the public, a report by the London Assembly
has concluded.
The report ‘Sold Out?’ defended the London Organising Committee of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), which is led by Sebastian
Coe and Paul Deighton, but did call for transparency on the number of tickets
being provided to companies like Samsung, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, BT and
Lloyds TSB.
“The Committee does not consider the number of tickets reserved for sponsors
is excessive, considering their financial contribution to the games,” it says.
“However, it is important Londoners are able to see what tickets sponsors have
access to.
“LOCOG should publish the total number of tickets purchased by sponsors for
each event; in providing this information there is no need to breach
confidentiality by specifying which sponsor(s) bought the tickets.
“To help Londoners understand how sponsors' tickets are being used, we also
urge LOCOG to encourage all sponsors to specify how many of their tickets are
being made available to the public through promotional activity.”
The report,
which is the result of a two-year-long campaign by the Assembly’s
Economy, Culture and Sport (ECS) Committee to get answers from LOCOG about the
ticketing process for the games, criticises the organisation for ‘unnecessary secrecy’.
It said that although LOCOG had previously indicated that around 28 per cent
of the 8.8 million tickets would cost £20 or less, it had refused to provide
information to prove whether cheaper tickets were spread equally across all
events, or concentrated in events like football, where supply exceeds demand.
LOCOG has been able to withhold information about ticket sales because its
status as a private company makes it exempt from Freedom of Information
requests.
Dee Doocey AM, chair of the ECS Committee said: “It is completely
unacceptable that an organisation that only exists because of a huge investment
of public money can hide behind its status as a private company to avoid
questions it does not like.”
The Committee has now written to the Olympic Board to request the release of
the information.
Pictured: Dee Doocey AM, chair of the ECS Committee
