Hello Karen,
Thank you for your media inquiry and we hope you enjoyed the competition!
Nearly all of the available tickets for equestrian were issued and there were very few tickets left.
We think it’s important that as many tickets as possible are available to the public. We want everyone to experience the Games, and we’re very proud that 75 per cent of our tickets are $45 or less, making the Games highly accessible to our fans.
That said, like other multisport Games, some seats will be available to people attending the Games in a professional capacity, like members of the media or National Olympic Committees. Additionally, corporate sponsors who invest in the Games receive a ticket allocation as part of that commitment.
There are also seats that are unavailable because of obstructions due to broadcast or to ensure that athletes, coaches, officials and broadcasters have enough space available in and around the field of play to compete or conduct themselves safely.
The broadcasting schedule is determined by our host broadcaster, CBC. So, please contact them if you have questions.
Thank you,
Paola
And here is my response to Paola (and I don’t imagine I’ll be hearing from Paola again):
Dear Paola: thank you for your reply. Please see the attached photo of the largest section of stands at the Caledon Equestrian Park, taken today at approximately 11 am. The competition had started at 9 am and is not yet finished for today. This photo is an accurate representation of how it looked throughout the day.
You have not answered my question about how many tickets were actually sold for today’s competition, though I do believe I made that question as clear as it’s possible to make it. The excuse that media and corporate sponsors are responsible for empty seats is without merit. I am seated in the dedicated media tribune, and I expect most of the sponsors (those who chose to attend) are seated in the VIP section beside the media tribune. The stadium’s 3,500 seat count does not include these tribunes.
Even if the sponsors were given regular spectator seats, I find it hard to believe you had over a thousand corporate sponsors to whom you gave tickets for today’s event.
As for your comment about ‘obstructions’, there are no sections of seats in this stadium that were not for sale, and every section had at least a few spectators in it. There are no blind spots at this venue. I suggest you learn a bit more about the layout of a sport venue before attempting to explain that the stadium is half empty due to that factor.
I will be posting your reply in its entirety on my blog shortly, along with this reply. Please advise immediately if there is any reason I may not share your message.
(the photo I sent to Paola is the one I included in my first post of today)
I had a conversation with Eva Havaris about an hour ago, and she confirmed what I suspected: that EC had absolutely no say in what the CBC deemed ‘TV worth watching’. Apparently CBC has allocated a total of 18 hours to equestrian coverage, but has shared with no one the details of what, when or why. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that we won’t be seeing any cameras at the cross country on Saturday, and that if anyone felt inclined to clock the total equestrian coverage (aka show jumping coverage), it won’t amount to 18 hours of un-repeated footage. I still encourage you to email Eva so that she can go into battle armed with evidence that Dressage IS a sport that people want to see in this country. Especially medal-winning Canadian team dressage.