SOCOG blunder to benefit spectators

The original public ticket offer listed the price for tickets for the September 22 evening athletics session at 165 Australian dollars for Category A, 125 dollars for Category B and 105 dollars for Category C tickets.

But the prices listed in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper were: 85 Australian dollars 65 dollars and 45 dollars respectively – the same price as tickets for the day session.

SOCOG Deputy Chief Executive Michael Eyers said the error had occurred somewhere between the inventory phase and the newspaper printers, adding that organizers would sell the tickets at published prices.

“It’s clear, by our legal obligations, that we have to sell those tickets at the advertised price that comes in with the order form,” he said.

A SOCOG ticketing spokesman said the printing error was a lucky break for consumers.

“In the scheme of things, it’s a small number of tickets when you’re dealing with an operation of this scale,” he said. “We’d rather it didn’t occur, but if there is an upside to it, a few thousand customers are getting a lucky break.”

Tickets for field hockey will go on sale on Monday, while telephone call centers will continue to take requests for athletics tickets until midnight Monday local time.

Tickets for all sessions for all Sports will be sold in stages over the next month.

Oversubscribed sessions, including the 400 meter finals which should feature Australia’s world champion Cathy Freeman, will go into a public ballot, SOCOG said.

Ticketing trouble is nothing new for SOCOG, which was widely condemned last year after details of its secret premium ticket scheme, which proposed to offer the best tickets at inflated prices to corporate entities, were released to the public.

SOCOG’s credibility suffered another blow earlier this year when organizers projected a ticket revenue shortfall but more recent audits have uncovered thousands of tickets, even for sessions thought to be sold out.