Football authorities Uefa are under fire over the high cost of Champions League final tickets, which include a £26 booking fee. How can processing a reservation cost so much?
That watching modern football is an expensive business may be a familiar observation to fans - and now paying a fee just so you can pay to see a game is the latest target of fans' ire.
The forthcoming Champions League final at London's Wembley stadium has generated criticism over the fact that its cheapest tickets will cost £150 plus a booking fee of £26.
Michael Brunskill, spokesman for the Football Supporters Federation (FSF), says that being charged "£26 for the privilege of buying a ticket for anything is outrageous".
But Uefa, who are responsible for the event, say that the booking fee reflects the fact that the reservation is made through agents while the tickets are sent by a courier firm.
Critics of the high cost of tickets include Michel Platini, Uefa's president, who admitted that the pricing structure "isn't brilliant" and promised to look at it again in future years.
However, Uefa's general secretary, Gianni Infantino, has insisted that prices for the 2011 final will not change as tickets have already gone on sale.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12831693
Paying for the privilege
Paying for the privilege
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Paying for the privalige
Is there a way to avoid the fee by going direct to a window? Same thing happens here for concerts and such -- and independent firm with all the latest on their website act as agent for the event and charge a fee on top of the fee charged by the event. For smaller venues, I can understand this since it could be costly to try to keep up an online booking system. But larger venues and event organizations (such as sports teams) should have the employee power to handle this and fold such internal cost into the pricing. Doubt there will be a boycott over the fees given the high number of fanatical fans.
Re: Paying for the privilege
The international general public will be able to apply for two tickets per person from an allocation of 11,000 for the showpiece match in the Spanish capital (20.45CET kick-off). The sales window will remain open between 8 March and Friday 19 March at 18.00CET.
Sales will be conducted solely through Europe's football website, UEFA.com, with each applicant having to complete in full the online application form. Should demand exceed supply then every valid request will enter a lottery to decide the allocation.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague ... 58258.html
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Paying for the privilege
That quote is regarding last year's (I think) final in Madrid Strop.
I doubt much has changed though... except maybe the allocation numbers. I think Wembley is bigger than The Bernabau...
I doubt much has changed though... except maybe the allocation numbers. I think Wembley is bigger than The Bernabau...
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: Paying for the privilege
Bummer dude, so it is 
Though, check this...
There we go!International ticket sales have closed for the 2011 UEFA Champions League final on Saturday 28 May.
The general public ticket sales process began – exclusively via UEFA.com – on Thursday 24 February and ended today, 18 March.
The allocation will now be decided by lottery, with each valid application entering a ballot, regardless of the time of submission within the application period. Successful candidates will be entitled to a maximum of two tickets.
Applicants will be informed by email by Wednesday 6 April if they have been successful or not. Candidates will be able to check the status of their application by logging into the ticket portal from 6 April. Tickets will then be delivered by registered post no later than Saturday 30 April.
Online applications will be checked to ensure that anyone banned from attending football games is unsuccessful in any attempt to purchase tickets.
UEFA underlines that no tickets are being distributed through agencies or brokers. UEFA also encourages fans not to be lured into deals with touts who not only demand exorbitant prices, but often are not in possession of the tickets they purport to have for sale.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague ... 09359.html
Though, check this...
http://www.worldticketshop.com/tickets/ ... al_tickets
Event Location Date Price
Champions League Final
London, GB GB
Wembley Stadium Saturday
28-05-2011
From £ 871,37 *+ delivery costs
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Paying for the privilege
Are you familiar with the riddle: "Why does a dog lick its balls?" (Answer below)
It is the essence of Trade - since the beginning of commerce - that the merchant seeks to purchase commodities as cheaply as possible, and then sell them for as much as possible.
This is absolutely universal.
The merchant takes a risk, of course, that when he goes to sell the commodity he will not be able to sell all that he has purchased, or that the market will not pay him as much as he expected. But that's a risk he readily assumes.
So if I'm "TickeTron," and I can buy 500 tickets to next month's Elton John concert for $150 each, yet I think that if I were to hold those tickets until the week before the concert I could sell them for $250 each, what's wrong with that? TickeTron's risk, Ticketron's reward.
All that's really happening here is that rather than just saying that the tickets are 176 pounds, and handling is FREEEEEEE(!), they've articulated exactly the same thing in a way that the buying public finds offensive.
Get over it. If you don't want to pay, watch the bleedin' game on television.
Answer to today's riddle: "Because it can!"
It is the essence of Trade - since the beginning of commerce - that the merchant seeks to purchase commodities as cheaply as possible, and then sell them for as much as possible.
This is absolutely universal.
The merchant takes a risk, of course, that when he goes to sell the commodity he will not be able to sell all that he has purchased, or that the market will not pay him as much as he expected. But that's a risk he readily assumes.
So if I'm "TickeTron," and I can buy 500 tickets to next month's Elton John concert for $150 each, yet I think that if I were to hold those tickets until the week before the concert I could sell them for $250 each, what's wrong with that? TickeTron's risk, Ticketron's reward.
All that's really happening here is that rather than just saying that the tickets are 176 pounds, and handling is FREEEEEEE(!), they've articulated exactly the same thing in a way that the buying public finds offensive.
Get over it. If you don't want to pay, watch the bleedin' game on television.
Answer to today's riddle: "Because it can!"
Re: Paying for the privilege
Gob wrote:Football authorities Uefa are under fire over the high cost of Champions League final tickets, which include a £26 booking fee. How can processing a reservation cost so much?
That watching modern football is an expensive business may be a familiar observation to fans - and now paying a fee just so you can pay to see a game is the latest target of fans' ire.
The forthcoming Champions League final at London's Wembley stadium has generated criticism over the fact that its cheapest tickets will cost £150 plus a booking fee of £26.
... "
Buying a ticket under those terms is a vote to continue the practice. The pain is entirely self-inflicted.
yrs,
rubato