serious14
Well-Known Member
Somehow I managed to get a ticket for this, but having been in this situation before, and being an avid supporter of an FA style points system, I can empathise a lot with what has happened here. Here's hoping it's the last time.
From TWG:
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/scottmcintyre/ffas-great-ticketing-bungle-153826/?comments=1/
Its a great shame that potentially many, many Socceroos supporters wont get to see the country, nor one of the most important and certainly highest profile matches on the road to South Africa. Due in a large part to a questionable ticketing process from the FFA and the sheer greed of their official travel partners.
With Jetstar plying the route that previously only Qantas and JAL flew direct to Japan's Narita Airport, there is a genuine option for fans to get to Yokohama on the cheap indeed I know of many who snapped up tickets for just several hundred dollars during a recent promotion. About $500 for the airfare, a few more for accommodation and a match ticket and theres a three-night trip to Japan for a thousand bucks to support the Socceroos. Or so many thought until it came time to sort out a ticket.
In fairness to the FFA this is the first time theyve had to deal with a situation outside of the World Cup, for which ticketing is not their sole responsibility where there has been an over-subscription of tickets to a Socceroos away match. Indeed in comparison to recent away matches in Uzbekistan and Bahrain, the amount of interest in the Japan match is staggering, but hardly a surprise.
Its understood the FFA has to pay for the allotment of tickets requested from the host association (in this case the JFA) up front and were perhaps understandably cautious in the initial request, understood to be in the range of 2000 .
That allotment is split into three categories: those that go to commercial partners, those that go to licensed travel partners and those that go directly to the supporters. No-one is disputing the fact that the first group receives an allotment after all sponsors contribute directly to the financial health of the FFA and similarly, no-one is disputing the fact that family members of the players and staff should get tickets. What is in great dispute is that travel companies should receive an allocation before demand from rank and file supporters is met.
While the FFA wont discuss either the specific numbers of tickets they acquired from the JFA or the way the allotment was distributed (aside than to say the demand is 50-times higher than previous away matches), its believed that the number of tickets available to the general public was in three figures, with some estimates putting the initial release at only several hundred.
This, despite the fact that the Green & Gold Army several months ago said that there could be anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 supporters prepared to head to Yokohama for the qualifier. Even in the light of recent currency fluctuations that have seen the Aussie dollar plummet against the Yen, they still expect at least 1,500 to make the trek many of them quite likely having to rely on buying tickets from scalpers at the venue (a fraught practice in Japan).
While it was little surprise that the original release of tickets to the general public was snapped up in a matter of minutes, there has been widespread consternation over both the number available and the timing of their release.
Quite remarkably, and with no good reason given as to why, the tickets went on sale at 4pm last Thursday, or just as importantly 8am in Bahrain. With the Socceroos having played a World Cup qualifier the previous evening the travelling fans would have been preparing to leave the country. Theres a reasonable argument that those hardy souls are part of the mainstream travelling fans and to release the tickets at a time when they quite likely dont have access to the internet is surely not in the best interests of the game.
By Thursday evening it had become abundantly clear that there was a whole lot of extremely angry and upset fans whod missed out on a ticket, many of them, as mentioned, having already purchased their flights. Again, this shouldnt have come as a surprise to the FFA because the demand was clear to see and if so then why risk the ire of supporters by effectively driving them into exorbitant package tours if they had missed out on the ticket-only release.
While the FFA, again to their credit, secured an extra batch of tickets that will go on sale next Wednesday, demand is expected to substantially outstrip supply once again, ultimately resulting in fans having to purchase a ticket as part of a package from one of three licensed travel partners.
Now its time to throw a spotlight on these FFA-endorsed organizations and dissect just how much they're gouging the fans.
I understand that there are many kinds of supporters that want to travel to these high-profile matches, but its a fair assumption that the overriding majority dont do so to experience a flash hotel rather they do so to attend the match and they want to do it as cheaply as possible. Why then are two of the three licensed travel partners only offering top-end accommodation - at inflated prices no less - if you want a ticket?
Firstly, the package offered by Fox Sports Travel for a single traveller includes three nights' accommodation at The Strings by Intercontinental Hotel in Tokyo, breakfast, a city tour, a pre-match function and a match ticket for $2,704! And no, of course it doesnt include airfares.
These are the facts three nights in the same hotel can be had for Y84,000 (around $1,350) booking on-line here. There are a myriad of free city tours offered in Tokyo; a hardy breakfast can be had for around $10 at any street corner caf. Surely pre-match drinks with Andy, Simon and Robbie dont cost more than a grand.
That leaves the match ticket, a category 5 effort at a stadium (like many in Japan) that has a giant running track around it. Ive been to the venue many, many times and the view from behind the goal is like watching a flick from the back of a drive-in.
Similar tickets for home national team matches in Japan usually go for around Y4-5,000 (roughly $70). So doing the sums, what should cost around $1,500 is being offered for a fair whack more than that and that at an inconvenient, unnecessarily pricey hotel that is the only option offered in a city full of reasonably priced places to sleep (and many of which have far more character than the generic Western hotel offered).
That is an inexcusable slugging of fans and one that largely lines the pockets of private travel operators (one of whom just happens to be associated with the FFAs broadcast partner) rather than the FFA, while obscenely ripping off the rank and file fan.
To make matters worse, Fox Sports Travel have mis-spelt the name of the station where the hotel is located (hardly a trivial matter when fans are expected to make their own way there with no help in a city of 13 million people); dont provide assistance in navigating the huge Shinagawa Station (which can be baffling with three different networks and more than 10 lines operating from the one cavernous area) and have selected a hotel that is in a fairly ordinary part of town.
Sure, theres a lot of hotels nearby, but its almost a one-hour trip with at least one change by regular service down to Shin-Yokohama (contrary to advice on the Fox Sports Travel website, which urges fans to set aside 25-30 minutes for the trip at a cost of Y280, when in fact its double that and of course not included in the inflated package price).
And if the Aussie fans want to have a drink in the capital after the match at anywhere with a bit of life (like Roppongi, but thats by no means a recommendation!) itll cost around 200 bucks to catch a cab home after the last train finishes at 11.30pm.
The second of the Licensed Travel Partners, Australian Sports Tours, stands to make an even healthier profit at the expense of fans. They offer 3, 4 or 5-star accommodation the middle option at Yokohamas Intercontinental hotel, so again no trips to Tokyo after 9pm.
A glance at the on-line rates for Yokohama the Grand for February 10 and 11 reveals you can get a room 'fairly' cheaply at around $380. AST throw in breakfast and a ticket but no drinks with the Fox boys for a steal at just $2430! Thats an even bigger rort than Fox Sports Travel almost five times the face value of costs!
While the Fanatics website offers a slightly cheaper option, whats not in any doubt is that the FFA is funnelling tickets to travel companies that do little more than offer ludicrously-priced accommodation, which any bozo can get themselves in five minutes on the internet.
Maybe its time the FFA got their own travel company so they at least get a decent cut of the profit to direct back into the game.
In the meantime, theyd do well to put the fans first - cut ties with these rip-off merchants and give all supporters who want it access to a match ticket first. Then any left unsold can go to the tour operators, not the other way around.
Not to mention BenW's SMH blog as well.....
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/2008/11/football_fans_soldout.html
From TWG:
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/scottmcintyre/ffas-great-ticketing-bungle-153826/?comments=1/
Its a great shame that potentially many, many Socceroos supporters wont get to see the country, nor one of the most important and certainly highest profile matches on the road to South Africa. Due in a large part to a questionable ticketing process from the FFA and the sheer greed of their official travel partners.
With Jetstar plying the route that previously only Qantas and JAL flew direct to Japan's Narita Airport, there is a genuine option for fans to get to Yokohama on the cheap indeed I know of many who snapped up tickets for just several hundred dollars during a recent promotion. About $500 for the airfare, a few more for accommodation and a match ticket and theres a three-night trip to Japan for a thousand bucks to support the Socceroos. Or so many thought until it came time to sort out a ticket.
In fairness to the FFA this is the first time theyve had to deal with a situation outside of the World Cup, for which ticketing is not their sole responsibility where there has been an over-subscription of tickets to a Socceroos away match. Indeed in comparison to recent away matches in Uzbekistan and Bahrain, the amount of interest in the Japan match is staggering, but hardly a surprise.
Its understood the FFA has to pay for the allotment of tickets requested from the host association (in this case the JFA) up front and were perhaps understandably cautious in the initial request, understood to be in the range of 2000 .
That allotment is split into three categories: those that go to commercial partners, those that go to licensed travel partners and those that go directly to the supporters. No-one is disputing the fact that the first group receives an allotment after all sponsors contribute directly to the financial health of the FFA and similarly, no-one is disputing the fact that family members of the players and staff should get tickets. What is in great dispute is that travel companies should receive an allocation before demand from rank and file supporters is met.
While the FFA wont discuss either the specific numbers of tickets they acquired from the JFA or the way the allotment was distributed (aside than to say the demand is 50-times higher than previous away matches), its believed that the number of tickets available to the general public was in three figures, with some estimates putting the initial release at only several hundred.
This, despite the fact that the Green & Gold Army several months ago said that there could be anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 supporters prepared to head to Yokohama for the qualifier. Even in the light of recent currency fluctuations that have seen the Aussie dollar plummet against the Yen, they still expect at least 1,500 to make the trek many of them quite likely having to rely on buying tickets from scalpers at the venue (a fraught practice in Japan).
While it was little surprise that the original release of tickets to the general public was snapped up in a matter of minutes, there has been widespread consternation over both the number available and the timing of their release.
Quite remarkably, and with no good reason given as to why, the tickets went on sale at 4pm last Thursday, or just as importantly 8am in Bahrain. With the Socceroos having played a World Cup qualifier the previous evening the travelling fans would have been preparing to leave the country. Theres a reasonable argument that those hardy souls are part of the mainstream travelling fans and to release the tickets at a time when they quite likely dont have access to the internet is surely not in the best interests of the game.
By Thursday evening it had become abundantly clear that there was a whole lot of extremely angry and upset fans whod missed out on a ticket, many of them, as mentioned, having already purchased their flights. Again, this shouldnt have come as a surprise to the FFA because the demand was clear to see and if so then why risk the ire of supporters by effectively driving them into exorbitant package tours if they had missed out on the ticket-only release.
While the FFA, again to their credit, secured an extra batch of tickets that will go on sale next Wednesday, demand is expected to substantially outstrip supply once again, ultimately resulting in fans having to purchase a ticket as part of a package from one of three licensed travel partners.
Now its time to throw a spotlight on these FFA-endorsed organizations and dissect just how much they're gouging the fans.
I understand that there are many kinds of supporters that want to travel to these high-profile matches, but its a fair assumption that the overriding majority dont do so to experience a flash hotel rather they do so to attend the match and they want to do it as cheaply as possible. Why then are two of the three licensed travel partners only offering top-end accommodation - at inflated prices no less - if you want a ticket?
Firstly, the package offered by Fox Sports Travel for a single traveller includes three nights' accommodation at The Strings by Intercontinental Hotel in Tokyo, breakfast, a city tour, a pre-match function and a match ticket for $2,704! And no, of course it doesnt include airfares.
These are the facts three nights in the same hotel can be had for Y84,000 (around $1,350) booking on-line here. There are a myriad of free city tours offered in Tokyo; a hardy breakfast can be had for around $10 at any street corner caf. Surely pre-match drinks with Andy, Simon and Robbie dont cost more than a grand.
That leaves the match ticket, a category 5 effort at a stadium (like many in Japan) that has a giant running track around it. Ive been to the venue many, many times and the view from behind the goal is like watching a flick from the back of a drive-in.
Similar tickets for home national team matches in Japan usually go for around Y4-5,000 (roughly $70). So doing the sums, what should cost around $1,500 is being offered for a fair whack more than that and that at an inconvenient, unnecessarily pricey hotel that is the only option offered in a city full of reasonably priced places to sleep (and many of which have far more character than the generic Western hotel offered).
That is an inexcusable slugging of fans and one that largely lines the pockets of private travel operators (one of whom just happens to be associated with the FFAs broadcast partner) rather than the FFA, while obscenely ripping off the rank and file fan.
To make matters worse, Fox Sports Travel have mis-spelt the name of the station where the hotel is located (hardly a trivial matter when fans are expected to make their own way there with no help in a city of 13 million people); dont provide assistance in navigating the huge Shinagawa Station (which can be baffling with three different networks and more than 10 lines operating from the one cavernous area) and have selected a hotel that is in a fairly ordinary part of town.
Sure, theres a lot of hotels nearby, but its almost a one-hour trip with at least one change by regular service down to Shin-Yokohama (contrary to advice on the Fox Sports Travel website, which urges fans to set aside 25-30 minutes for the trip at a cost of Y280, when in fact its double that and of course not included in the inflated package price).
And if the Aussie fans want to have a drink in the capital after the match at anywhere with a bit of life (like Roppongi, but thats by no means a recommendation!) itll cost around 200 bucks to catch a cab home after the last train finishes at 11.30pm.
The second of the Licensed Travel Partners, Australian Sports Tours, stands to make an even healthier profit at the expense of fans. They offer 3, 4 or 5-star accommodation the middle option at Yokohamas Intercontinental hotel, so again no trips to Tokyo after 9pm.
A glance at the on-line rates for Yokohama the Grand for February 10 and 11 reveals you can get a room 'fairly' cheaply at around $380. AST throw in breakfast and a ticket but no drinks with the Fox boys for a steal at just $2430! Thats an even bigger rort than Fox Sports Travel almost five times the face value of costs!
While the Fanatics website offers a slightly cheaper option, whats not in any doubt is that the FFA is funnelling tickets to travel companies that do little more than offer ludicrously-priced accommodation, which any bozo can get themselves in five minutes on the internet.
Maybe its time the FFA got their own travel company so they at least get a decent cut of the profit to direct back into the game.
In the meantime, theyd do well to put the fans first - cut ties with these rip-off merchants and give all supporters who want it access to a match ticket first. Then any left unsold can go to the tour operators, not the other way around.
Not to mention BenW's SMH blog as well.....
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/2008/11/football_fans_soldout.html
