While the television ratings for the Olympics have been impressive in the United States — thanks to Michael Phelps and the rest of his US Swimming cohorts — actual event attendance is not going as well as hoped, even though potential spectators are being turned away due to the events being sold-out.

The problem is, a large number of the event tickets were “sold” to the various sponsors and they, in turn, are not using them. Because of that, actual fans of these events are being turned away even if there is adequate seating in the arena they want access to. Not only does this reek of poor management, it’s incredibly embarrassing to the host country; so much so, Chinese officials have resorted to seeding the audience:

There have also been large numbers of yellow-shirted “cheerleaders” present at some events, recruited to create an atmosphere and to prevent the embarrassing spectacle of empty seats appearing on television.

At the Capital Gymnasium earlier this week there were three blocks of several hundred yellow-shirted spectators cheering loudly for Venezuela as they took on the USA at volleyball.

Yesterday, organisers claimed that the cheerleaders were in fact spectators, but today Wang Wei, vice-president of Bocog, conceded that they had been recruited by venue managers to fill seats.

And that’s what you get when you allot a large portion of your tickets to corporate sponsors. If they show up and pack the place, the risk paid off. However, if they don’t… well, you know the story.

Here’s an idea, how about making the unused tickets available to the general public so you won’t have to worry about recruiting fake crowds. That way, both parties are happy. The Chinese get to have larger crowds and the fans who actually made the journey to watch the events get to do just that.

It’s a novel idea, I know, but sometimes you have to be the revolutionary if you want things to change.

H/T to SbB.

Tags: Beijing, Empty Seats, Summer Olympics

You Might Also Enjoy:
• Let The Madness Begin
• Everybody Wants Lakers/Celtics For Christmas
• PSA: Donate Your Preseason NFL Tickets