30.496 spectators today

[croflash]

Yikes.

As pointed out in another thread, the tickets are too expensive and there were many critical voices (from German athletes who felt like they weren't incorporated into ads, the media, residents of Berlin who knew almost nothing about the WCH and others) about the marketing strategy in the weeks and months before the championships started.

If you combine the lack of ads with expensive ticket prizes in the current state of economy, the result is a half-empty stadium. From a financial standpoint it is looking like a disaster in the making, not to mention that world championships in a large stadium, but thousands of empty seats also take away from the overall experience and event.

[nevetsllim]

The ticket prices were ridiculous :roll: For goodness sakes, there needs to be some compromise and the organisers can't expect capacity crowds when the tickets cost an absolute fortune.

[croflash]

Not better today, it's a shame. Hopefully they will start handing out tickets for free or 1 € to get a packed house.

[Johannes NA]

It's truly awful. Hopefully it won't look that empty when Arianne Friedrich and Blanka Vlasic go head to head on thursday!

Where do you get the spectator stats?

[croflash]

It's truly awful. Hopefully it won't look that empty when Arianne Friedrich and Blanka Vlasic go head to head on thursday!

Where do you get the spectator stats?

Via a German blog (http://jensweinreich.de/), not too fond about the other blog posts, but the BOC is giving out the official numbers at the end of each day and sending those information to numerous journalists, officials and numerous other people.

49.848 spectators today, that would be a solid number for the evening session ... unfortunately it includes the morning (19.951), only 29.897 during the evening.

[Powell]

Re: 30.496 spectators today

When I look at the WCh ticket web site, it looks like there are very seats available for any of the days, and Saturday is 100% sold out.

[meliasso]

Disappointing to see the empty stands. Not sure what the attendance has been in the previous WChamps but my guess is that IAAF needs to market T&F better.

[bruce3404]

To the credit of the fans who attended tonight, quite a few stayed on right to the end of the decathlon 400 meter races. I was thinking they'd all bail after the discus. Seems like there was way more than 29,000 in the stadium tonight.

[croflash]

To the credit of the fans who attended tonight, quite a few stayed on right to the end of the decathlon 400 meter races. I was thinking they'd all bail after the discus. Seems like there was way more than 29,000 in the stadium tonight.

20.312 in the morning, 32.158 in the evening.

According to the organizing committee, the next days are (almost) sold out ... take it for whatever it's worth.

[gh]

Disappointing to see the empty stands. Not sure what the attendance has been in the previous WChamps but my guess is that IAAF needs to market T&F better.

Stadia have varied, but I don't believe there has been a truly sold-out session at any WC since Stuttgart in '93. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the last WC that had a rest day; the product has been diluted since then (even with addition of some more women's events).

[asindc]

Disappointing to see the empty stands. Not sure what the attendance has been in the previous WChamps but my guess is that IAAF needs to market T&F better.

Stadia have varied, but I don't believe there has been a truly sold-out session at any WC since Stuttgart in '93. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the last WC that had a rest day; the product has been diluted since then (even with addition of some more women's events).

This is only anecdotal on my part, but I was in Paris in 2003, and it seemed that there were a few capacity crowds there, especially for the Opening Ceremonies and the final weekend. In fact, I'm almost certain that the final day was a sellout because the French press played up the US/France showdown in the men's 4x400.

[croflash]

Packed house today, 32.514 spectators during the morning session and 57.937 in the evening.

[bruce3404]

Packed house today, 32.514 spectators during the morning session and 57.937 in the evening.

And a noisy house as well. I'll give the German crowd credit; they stay right until the end and then some. As soon as Hardee crossed the finish line, we were heading to the exits, virtually alone. Had this been LA, the crowd would have started filing out before the 1500, knowing that Hardee had a victory in the bag. Very exciting day.

[croflash]

Sell-out crowd of 59.926 today and apparently about 700.000 people were watching the men's marathon on the streets.

[bruce3404]

Yep, it was full today; won't be quite as full tomorrow, based on some online ticket research I've done. Understandable, since the average ticket price is around 85 euros ($120) and it's only a two hour session. Berlin was a good place to hold the meet; most of the fans are very knowledgeable, appreciate good performances of non-German athletes, and stay until the very end of the meets, despite the massive crowding at the subway stations after the events.
I give the Berlin organizing committee a big thumbs up for the job they've done in producing a well-run, well-attended meet. I'd certainly come back here again someday for a WC meet.