World Cup Organizers Fear "Tragic" Empty Stadiums

By: Daniel Carty
Topics

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, left, and organizing committee chief Danny Jordaan hold a giant representation of a 2010 World Cup ticket during the official 2010 FIFA World Cup ticket unveiling at the Maponya Mall in Soweto, South Africa, April 9, 2010.

(Credit: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

World Cup organizers are sweating.

It's less than two months until soccer's premier event kicks off in South Africa and 500,000 tickets - nearly a quarter of the tournament's seats - are unsold.

How is that possible, given soccer's, er, football's position as the global sport? We're not talking about Major League Soccer struggling to fill seats. This is the World Cup

According to the Associated Press, the problem is with the online ticket sale process, as the generally poor local fans aren't accustomed to using the Internet to buy tickets.

But if you ask me, maybe the real problem is the ridiculously enormous ticket size (see photo). Come on, FIFA. You can't expect people to carry those things around for two months. Maybe if you offered ridiculously enormous pockets to go along with them, but even then it's a stretch. (I'm obviously just kidding, those ticket sizes are fine).

At any rate, FIFA is scrambling to avoid what organizing committee chief Danny Jordaan called the "tragic" outcome of empty stadiums. Tickets (presumably normal size) will go on sale to the general public in South Africa April 15.

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by SouthAfricanMale April 11, 2010 7:56 AM EDT: It is not all the people that is racists, though...
Here in SA are some black and white people who believe that the alleged racism is caused by a group of people "who believe that the world is over populated".

These people have leaders of all religions and political stand points that would "help create war" in order to reduce the global population. Just like they did with the twin towers in USA.
So they don't care who dies as long as some people die eventually. They reduce the population to "manageable proportions"; Reply to this comment


by badforu April 9, 2010 6:56 PM EDT: The USA should BOYCOTT the 2010 World Cup. And with draw any of our people from South Africa. The South African Goverment and the ANC has sanctioned the singing of racial hatred song that intice the populace to "kill the white man". Members of there Goverment have sung this song at rallys across South Africa for the past several months and have resulted in the killing of several farmers. This can not be tolerated, and demands attention. A BOYCOTT is warrented. The World Does NOT support RACISM in any shape or form!; Reply to this comment


by mpower830 April 9, 2010 4:41 PM EDT: They can't sell tickets because if you go to South Africa there's a good chance you will be murdered, carjacked, raped, or otherwise bothered by street criminals. Combine that with the fact that South Africa is a pretty far trek from countries whose citizens would have the means to buy those tickets, and it's no surprise that they're struggling a bit. It will be intersting to see if the South African government's attempts to clear up the riff raff have worked.; Reply to this comment