People keep talking about empty seats and they have no clue because they most likely have never been to the new Hayward Field. 1) The East grandstands are in direct sunlight and HOT! Most people who bought tickets there either move or they stand up top where there are always a bunch of people seeking shade. 2) Bathrooms and water lines. The lines to refill water are ridiculous and much longer than you would probably imagine. Th elines to get into the bathroom can be very long as well 3) Fan Fest. There is a whole dedicated area with vendors, exhibits, alcohol and where the awards take place. The USATF store is also there and lines most of the time are 100 people deep, and that's not an exageration. There were 300-400 people in the fan fest area almost always. 4) VIP seating. At variousl places around the top of the stadium there are VIP areas (Table chairs and a buffett with alcohol) These were full of people not in standard seating. 5) Agate street. Agate street was closed off and served alcohol and had food trucks with seating. With lines and people partaking in the spirits, there were at least another 500 people in there.
All of these people were ticketed but not in their seats, so when you see empty seats and don't believe the stated attendance numbers, this is why. It's not a conspiracy, there are a bunch of other places for peoplet o be other than sitting in their purchased seats. THe stadium was packed for the main events each day.
Go and watch the final hour of the final day. There were tons of empty seats when Sydney was racing. I wouldn't expect people to be at fan fest during the 1 hour of 6 track finals on the final day. Everyone should be in their seats but probably like 10-15% were not.
There were WAY more empty seats than what we were told were seats sold. And then I start getting emails about computer problems.
Something was pretty inefficient about ticketing for sure. My buddy who lives in Eugene didn't have a ticket for the final day and was trying all week to purchase one online. He finally had to buy a resale one for $200+ online. Seems like if there are unsold seats, USATF would be trying to get them filled, right!?
According to so many people online, all those empty seats were because those people were elsewhere in the stadium and that the ticket sales were through the roof
According to so many people online, all those empty seats were because those people were elsewhere in the stadium and that the ticket sales were through the roof
According to so many people online who were there, all most of those empty seats were because those people were elsewhere in the stadium and that the ticket sales were through the roof better than appeared.
I was out in Eugene for my first ever Trials, and it was an incredible experience. While I could share many stories about my experience, the one that might interest you most is a series of ticketing errors that resulted in my family having multiple free tickets. I wonder if others experienced the same and if this contributed to low(er) attendance.
The brief version is:
The ticketing site was overwhelmed on the first day of single ticket sales, with long wait times, and multiple site crashes / time outs during the purchase process
On at least 3 occasions, I had seats confirmed in my basket but the transaction did not go through (I took panicked screenshots, worried I'd go home empty handed)
Eventually, I was able to secure seats for all days that I wanted to attend (days 7-10) and paid for 5 seats each day
On the first day of my attendance, as I was pulling up my tickets, I was shocked to find that I had access to all of the tickets that had ever been confirmed, including those that I did not pay for.
The "extra" tickets worked to gain entry and both sets of seats were open / unused by others on each day (I purchased 20 tickets but received 35.)
Given the site traffic on the first day of ticketing, numerous site crashes, I would be very surprised if I was the only one who experienced this. It's very strange that the tickets would be reserved / held / provided without any payment, but that's what I experienced. I wonder what impact this had on attendance, both in terms of reported sales (do they base that off of payment received or the "reserving" of seats?) and actual number of people in the stands.
My question to Letsrun nation is, did anyone else experience something like this? IT seemed very odd to me that there were so many empty seats most nights in Eugene when I'd gone to the ticketing website a few weeks before the Trials and saw very few tickets for sale. Were there really that many corporate no shows?
Given the way computers work, if this happened to one guy, 15 unused tickets, wouldn't it have happened to many others - possibly impacting attendance by hundreds or thousands? I'm wondering if this might explain why there were so many empty seats most nights in Eugene but so few tickets for sale.
-Rojo
People keep talking about empty seats and they have no clue because they most likely have never been to the new Hayward Field.
5) Agate street. Agate street was closed off and served alcohol and had food trucks with seating. With lines and people partaking in the spirits, there were at least another 500 people in there.
Agate street. You can watch the entire meet on TV in the shade, with food and drink and a constant flow of friends. It is the social heart of Hayward Field. See or be seen,, thats the place to be.. There is really no reason to sit in heat of the East Stands.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.