Fest. of Excellence - Nate Brannen Wins Again (as does Merritt)

Usain Bolt was very professional in getting a juicy pay cheque running at the ironically named Festival of Excellence Thursday night at U of T’s relatively new stadium. But the event was definitely produced by amateurs.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=169915

I don't get it. Since when is anyone in this position obligated to show you (or anyone else on the internet) their financial statements?

Maybe it made money. Maybe it didn't. I don't know. So what if it did?

The meet was billed as Usain Bolt and some other high level athletes. Did most of the people pay to see "some other high level athletes" or Bolt?

Would the tickets have been priced so high without Bolt? Would the stands have even sold out at $20 tickets without Bolt?

Probably not.

So, given the choice, would you think track would be better promoted in Toronto by cheaper tickets, 3/4 filled stadium, no Bolt, no front page newspaper coverage, no TV news coverage and no 'buzz'?

Or would more people get exposure by having Bolt and charging what the market would bear?

Seriously, what would you choose?

Please read the posts coming from multiple, unconnected people. All are valid reasons.

If you can identify another North American meet where one can see Bolt race from a grandstand where the farthest seat is 20 rows from the track, for a cheaper price than FOE, then please, enlighten the board and all those who complain about the price of tickets.

Maybe not to you, but to repeat yet again, the meet was "Bolt and some other top athletes". People paid to see Bolt. They saw Bolt run and they saw Bolt win. Weather conditions can't be controlled, so who are you to say to those people they didn't get their money's worth?

Which fields do you think were not competitive?

Can you identify which athletes should have been in the men's 100 to make that a competitive event? What do you think the chances of getting those athletes on the same starting line of any meet that is not a World Champs or Olympics? Whose fault is it that Bolt is so much better than anyone else he might race?

The NCAA meet did not have Bolt. That (yet again) is who people paid to see. If this still troubles you, list all the meets you can get to this year to see Bolt for less than you could have seen him race in Toronto.

Why do you insist on using words like "fleece"?

They paid to see Bolt. They saw Bolt. They new what the price was when they paid. How do you still think people got 'fleeced'?

You knew the fields (minus last-minute cancellations) when you bought your ticket. What convinced you then if you feel you got "fleeced" after?

Reading that seems to suggest to me that he is complaining that Bolt is too much better than the rest of the international competition and too popular with the sporting and non-sporting public. Is that Bolt's fault? FOE's fault? Or maybe your fault for not training hard enough to be able to challenge Bolt?

ASTERIX wrote:

Don't know. You tell me. How many World Records (or even national records) were set down at Pre

Here is a brief snapshot of how the two meets compared. I was at The Festival but only saw Pre on TV but what I saw and the stats tell the story of what is my major disappointment. Even the races with fast times were not compelling. One runner running ok (not, good or great) and having little to no competition is not a track meet.

Festival of Excellence

Womens 400m -26th fastest time in world this year

Pre

Womens 400- 2nd, 8th and 16th fastest time in world

Womens Mile- 4:29 equates to a 4:09 1500m---Pre had 7 of the top 7 times in the world this year along with a new collegiate record.

Womens 100m Hurdles- 4 women at Pre ahead of 1st Fest Excellence woman (7-9 in world this year)

MENS 100m

Festival of Excellence

Bolt 10.0 Crawford 10.25, worse from there!

Pre

Michael Rogers 9.94 Fastest time in world this yr), Asafa Powell 10.07, 5 more in before Crawfors time

Mens 400m

Festival of Excellence

8th best time in world then 50th best this yr

Mens 300

Pre

2nd fastest of all time and sea level world record

Mens 800m

Pre was lsightly more cometitive but this was not bad

Mens 1500m

Looked like a fast club race?

Mens mile

Festival of Excellence

3:55.07 12th in world this yr

Prefontaine

3:48..9 of top 11 times in world this yr run

Mens 5000m

Festival of Excellence

13:22 Not even top 50 in world this year. I see faster races from clus athletes?

Mens 3000

Pre

6 of top 12 times in world this yr

Ticket Price

Festival of Excellence

$50-250

Pre

$10-50

We had the world champion in Steeple---So what if he didnt run the steeple?

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With so many US runners getting ready for nationals and NCAA going off the timing didnt make much sense

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You mean US (and Canadian) runners getting ready for the National champs in two weeks SHOULD NOT be looking for final tune-up races?

----Sure but then call your meet a "Worlds Tune Up" not Festival of Excellence and charge us to watch athletes tune up...I go down to FL every year with family to watch pre-season baseball and dont pay what I do to see a game when everyone is going all out.

One last thing on the Triathlon---4 guys coming in to do 3 events can be done with their training partners which each of them have. This was done to add filler to the meet so we would feel better about what we spent, but that is crap.

9.77 for Bolt in Ostrava. How ya feeling about your $250 tickets now.

FOI wrote:

9.77 for Bolt in Ostrava. How ya feeling about your $250 tickets now.

Cheapest flight from Toronto to Ostrava (via Frankfurt) through expedia.ca is $1379 return. Then there is hotel and other expenses.

Which way is cheaper to be able to watch Bolt race live?

Why the ticket price complaints? This isn't Eugene Oregon. They brought these folks to us so we can see them compete live and in person and there's a cost with that. If you want to spend the $20 buck price for seats at the Pre, then go for it and pay the airfair, hotel, food, etc. that goes with it. I'm here in Toronto and the $75 I paid for grandstand seats was a bargain in my opinion to see a few people I may never get to see otherwise.

Want something cheaper? The Canadian Track and Field Champtionships are happening at Varsity (same venue as the Fest of excel.) from June 25th to 28th. $20 is the adult pass rate, $50 gives you all for days. So spend your twenty and go see some 'real' track athletes at work and quick your whining.

venue:

http://www.athletics.ca/toronto2009/

tickets:

http://www.ticketbreak.com/event_details/2784

oh, and I wasn't responding directly to FOE in that post, it just happened to be the 'reply' link at the top of the page.

Andy Baddeley has just run a 3.51 is Ostrava. He is the best white 1500m runner in the world along with Higuero.

You're missing the point:

PRICES

Tribune: 500 CZK = 29.33CAD

Standing: 80 CZK = 4.69CAD

Children up to 15 years – free of charge

Full results at:

http://www.iaaf.org/gp09/results/eventcode=4189/index.html

See what $29.33 gets you in Ostrava compared to $250 in Toronto (or even $100). Which spectators do you think got the better deal?

FOI wrote:

Which spectators do you think got the better deal?

The ones in Toronto. They earn an average of about $45k a year, while those in Ostava earn about $16k a year.

Still wrong:Canadians paying top price shelled out on average 0.56% of their yearly income to see Bolt, while Czech's paying top price only had to put out 0.18% of their yearly income to see Bolt and a whole host of other races that exceeded the quality in Toronto.

I have a theory too wrote:

FOI wrote:

Which spectators do you think got the better deal?

The ones in Toronto. They earn an average of about $45k a year, while those in Ostava earn about $16k a year.

FOI wrote:

Canadians paying top price shelled out on average 0.56% of their yearly income to see Bolt, while Czech's paying top price only had to put out 0.18% of their yearly income to see Bolt and a whole host of other races that exceeded the quality in Toronto.

While I was there, Bryan Clay was chatting with folks and getting pictures taken about 6 feet away from me. A couple of other Olympians were milling about the crowd and shooting the shit.

I barbecued a t-bone after I got back. It was delicious.

How did you spend your Thursday evening?

WHAT!!! Byan Clay ONLY 6 feet away! Well, I've only ever been 7 feet way from an Olympain ;-( And a t-bone on top of that...beats my round steak. AND, to top it off, you are $250 lighter in the pocket! YAH!!! Yes, you must have had a grand ol' time compared to me.

I have a theory too wrote:

FOI wrote:

Canadians paying top price shelled out on average 0.56% of their yearly income to see Bolt, while Czech's paying top price only had to put out 0.18% of their yearly income to see Bolt and a whole host of other races that exceeded the quality in Toronto.

While I was there, Bryan Clay was chatting with folks and getting pictures taken about 6 feet away from me. A couple of other Olympians were milling about the crowd and shooting the shit.

I barbecued a t-bone after I got back. It was delicious.

How did you spend your Thursday evening?

I did. Thanks for acknowledging it.

The meet in Ostrava is certainly better. The point is that Toronto has not had anything resembling a world class meet in a very long time. We had one last week. The tickets were expensive, but we had one. I wouldn't pay $250 to go see it, but there were cheaper seats.

I won't repeat all the points I agree with here, but in general I don't get the argument. Yes there are other meets in the world that are cheaper and arguably have deeper fields.

That being said, this is likely the only chance this year to see the world's fastest human in North America - with only about 6000 other people.

Who cares what the quality of the meet is - people are paying 250 bucks to be able to say they say Bolt. That is pretty cool. He is the not only the world's fastest human, but also a cool dude.

As for price, 250 was the most expensive, a lot of seats were cheaper. Second, the meet was held less than a 15 minute subway ride from the financial district of Toronto. I could probably find you almost 6000 guys down there that make half a million a year - 250 bucks is nothing to that crowd - whether the ticket is "worth" that or not. Third there are literally millions of people within a hour of where the meet was held. Many of them pay 250 a shot to see the Leafs play meaningless regular season games, or go to a run of the mill U2 concert, or go out to a fancy dinner. The market in Toronto will bear these prices.

So to sum up, I agree some other select meets are a better value in terms of "quality fields". But that is a red herring. The question is simply, is it worth it to you, to pay 250 bucks for what is likely a once in a lifetime chance to watch a once in a lifetime superstar? A lot of people thought so, so why keep going on about it?