Olympic Stadium seating plan

[sw17]

Hi

Has anyone seen a more detailed plan, than the one that is downloadable from the LOCOG site ? It only shows 'block/area' numbers & not row numbers. I am just wondering where row 51 is. Looks like its going to be on the top tier, but just wondered how near the front row it is.

Strangley, my £40 morning session tickets are very close-by to my evening session expensive ones.
I had thought that cheap ones would be right at the back, but would be strange if price doesn't equate
to proximity to the track.

Not that it matters much, I am just happy to have them.

Cheers

[Laps]

sw17

Row 51 is definitely in the top tier. From information I have seen on ticket allocation there seem to be approx 25 rows in the lower tier. There is an intermediate tier M01-M15 along the home straight which may interupt the row numbering but the top tier starts at around row 35 and goes up to row 75. I have a better plan but it still doesn't show the individual rows.

Ticket allocation for all the athletics sessions I have seen shows categories AA and A, and occasionally B (north end) in the lower tier and B,C,D,E in the upper tier, the lower categories tending towards the back and ends as you would expect.

There will no doubt be a great deal of argument about categories and location. I have seen AA seats (cost £725) in for example Row 6 Block 137 halfway up the backstraight, and arguably better views from near the front of the top tier in category B.

[pgee]

I've been trying to find out where the categories for seating are in the stadium for the olympic stadium - athletics -specifically for the 5th aug.
i just received my tickets for the prized at005 ( men's 100 final) session to find that my category A tickets ( not cheap!) are in fact past the bend on the complete opposite side to the 100 starting line and 35 rows back. That's 250 meters away from the start line and about as far as you can get.

This can't be right?

Any one have any info on placement and categories for this session be good to compare,

thanks

[jeremy1]

do you seriously imagine that if we had been told that a £420 ticket gets you the very front row, Row 1, at the start of the 200m approx, that my tickets got me, we would have bothered.

Thats why LOCOG went out of their way never to give info even in the most general terms as to where you may be for your money.

Having been in many stadia for WC events over the years in many countries a more expensive ticket gets you preferential treatment, with generally a birds eye view and NOT at the start of the 200m.

Those tricky deceitful LOCOG people knew that we would not look at the shitty seats which I know Geoff has and me also for vast sums of money... and in the frigging wet... no roof. To the LOCOG people a seat under a roof with a decent view was an "inferior" view and therefore costs less, in some cases, a lot less than a £420/£725 seat.

Acc to a friend when he was asked to lob out money for the Commonwealth Games seating charade in Manchester, years ago, they also would not say in any terms where the seats were.Same trickery


So I sold my seats for the last night of track and field at under face value to my oldest friend who went to a number of great WCs with me , who got nowt after the three attempts.
.

when I received the crap seats offered to me for 420 quid each, no way was I going to let those ghastly LOCOG people led by chief spin doctor, Coe, screw me.

BTW Row 1 is right on the front near to the athletes but a lousy view of events.

[Laps]

I've been trying to find out where the categories for seating are in the stadium for the olympic stadium - athletics -specifically for the 5th aug.
i just received my tickets for the prized at005 ( men's 100 final) session to find that my category A tickets ( not cheap!) are in fact past the bend on the complete opposite side to the 100 starting line and 35 rows back. That's 250 meters away from the start line and about as far as you can get.

This can't be right?
Any one have any info on placement and categories for this session be good to compare,
thanks

pgee
These are the ticket placements that I know of for AT005.
Category AA Block 134 Row 9
Category A Block 106 Row 2, Block 107 Row 2, Block 138 Row 2 (mine), Block 218 Row 47, Block 219 Row 36
Category B - 12 batches all top tier at ends of stadium or in back straight
Category C&D - 11 batches, same as B but Rows 68-75 high up in the gods

When the dust settles on ticket allocations I think we will find that all available seats in the finishing straight were occupied by Olympic Committee members and guests, 'dignitaries', Olympic sponsors and guests, and the like. Quite large areas of the finishing straight are, in any case, taken up by the enormous army of media including the post-race Interview zigzag which is quite wasteful of space judged by the Prepares event.

All of this I realise now. At the time of failing to get LOCOG tickets in the ballot I thought that an AA or A would be a choice seat. For a session like AT005, and probably all medal sessions, there are few if any finishing straight seats available to the public.

The only consolation is that I should get a good view of the Women's Triple Jump and will enjoy the incredible atmosphere.

[larkim]

do you seriously imagine that if we had been told that a £420 ticket gets you the very front row, Row 1, at the start of the 200m approx, that my tickets got me, we would have bothered.

Thats why LOCOG went out of their way never to give info even in the most general terms as to where you may be for your money.

Blimey, you're bitter aren't you. The 1pt glass in front of me - I've got about half a pint in it? How would you describe it??

I honestly believe that the seat allocations have been done as best as they can manage; there is massive subjectivity in what one man believes are good seats vs another's opinion. Sat right down at the front row next to the start of the 200m might be the best seats in the house for some, for others they'll not let them see the long jump and will be the worst.

"They" aren't out to get you. Perhaps they could have been clearer by colour coding areas of the stadium with likely seating locations, but if you really think that they have done that to screw the UK population into shelling out serious money for tickets, I really think you are mistaken. You, and others, will no doubt say that I am being naive. Perhaps, but my world is probably far cheerier as a result!

Matt

[athleticsdad]

Bitterness doesn't come into it, it is the whole process that has been put in place. For any UKA ticketmaster athletics event in the UK you can specify exactly what seat you want. So you can pay for the 100m final line, high jump, pole vault, shot etc depending on your budget. Why should it be assumed that athletics fans don't care where they sit for the Olympic Stadium. For track fans you can maybe get by, but for field event fans you need to be near the action. If you're "general happy to be there and soak up the atmosphere fan" then you get what you pay for and don't complain. But why should you have priority over the die hard athletics fan!

When the bbc announced that only 25% of the Olympic Stadium tickets were released in the first ballot it just summed up the whole process. I've got more chance of seeing RIO 2016. Hopefully I'll have a good reason to go!

London 2012 - Watch it on TV!

[Flumpy]

This is exactly why I didn't even apply for any athletics tickets. I've never heard of a situation where you're supposed to hand over hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds but have absolutely no idea what you're getting for your money until it's too late. I've been to meetings all over the world where I've been able to buy whatever seats I've wanted but the one a mile and a half from my house I'm supposed to blindly cough up a fortune to be sat somewhere that I wouldn't willing pay a tenner for.

If I go to an athletics meeting I want to watch the athletics, not go for the 'experience' or soak up the atmosphere. If I was seated by the 200m line I'd be furious. In fact I'd have simply returned the tickets. For the first time ever I think I'm in full agreement with jeremy1.

I shall be watching everything from the comfort of my living room and enjoying every single moment. It will cost me nothing

Roll on Rio!!!

[larkim]

But the fact is it is basic supply and demand. "Proper" athletics fans don't have any god given right to demand preferential ticketing treatment over someone else who has never been to an athletics event before. The Olympics is the Olympics; there's no way that LOCOG could change the fact that it will inevitably be a more popular attraction than, say, a Diamond League fixture or even the world champs.

They had to design a simple to use ticketing system which could apply to all events in a clear way, for venues which had not yet been fully completed. There's a simple commercial reality that sponsors / corporates get a large chunk of the allocations, and in purist terms that irritates me as much as I'm sure it does any other "fan", but we live in the real world and for an event which won't happen again in my lifetime in this country I understand the power of the pound.

My frustration comes when people start to make naive claims about "them" trying to screw things over. I don't believe that that happens. People make decisions which others might disagree with, based on the priorities and issues that they face. Inevitably there will be decisions which certain groups of people will disagree with. I'm taking the view that I'll enjoy the Olympics much more by putting on a cheery face and being thankful that I'll be there at all (my father has recently been taken ill and in all likelihood he won't be able to use them after waiting all his life to see the Olympics in the UK), even if I can't see everything in the stadium that might interest me.

Matt

[ultragirl]

do you seriously imagine that if we had been told that a £420 ticket gets you the very front row, Row 1, at the start of the 200m approx, that my tickets got me, we would have bothered.

Thats why LOCOG went out of their way never to give info even in the most general terms as to where you may be for your money.

Blimey, you're bitter aren't you. The 1pt glass in front of me - I've got about half a pint in it? How would you describe it??

I honestly believe that the seat allocations have been done as best as they can manage; there is massive subjectivity in what one man believes are good seats vs another's opinion. Sat right down at the front row next to the start of the 200m might be the best seats in the house for some, for others they'll not let them see the long jump and will be the worst.

"They" aren't out to get you. Perhaps they could have been clearer by colour coding areas of the stadium with likely seating locations, but if you really think that they have done that to screw the UK population into shelling out serious money for tickets, I really think you are mistaken. You, and others, will no doubt say that I am being naive. Perhaps, but my world is probably far cheerier as a result!

Matt

Jeremy you are so correct, LOCOG have scammed the general public and looked after their business friends, it is terrible, but unfortunately government, and everyone else are as bad as the banks because they have engineered themselves immune from independent control and VFM, the buck stops with everyone but them, much like with UKA and EA.

Hence the state of the country

[Flumpy]

It's clear that 'they' (Whoever they may be) purposefully hid any seating plan before tickets were sold so that that those buying the most expensive tickets would have no idea just how crappy they were.

Front row of the 200m start is just about the worst place anyone can sit at an athletics meeting and yet it seems that this area make sup some of the most expensive seats. This is quite obviously outrageous when no one had the chance to decide if this is where they preferred to watch the action from.

A simply stadium map at the beginning of the process with colour coding to indicate what tickets you were buying is all that I'm suggesting. It happens at every sporting event of music concert around the world but didn't in this case and we can only assume that's because there would have been a giant outcry when people saw what a rip off the whole process was.

Any body buying top price tickets would have expected for them to be on the finishing straight and they are not which in itself if disgraceful.

[trickstat]

As far as I can see all the tickets for the lower level are more expensive than those for the upper tier. Consequently, a ticket by, for instance, the 200m start on the lower level is very expensive while one in the cheapest category could be halfway down the home straight in the upper tier (and under cover!). I know which I'd prefer!

[Laps]

As far as I can see all the tickets for the lower level are more expensive than those for the upper tier. Consequently, a ticket by, for instance, the 200m start on the lower level is very expensive while one in the cheapest category could be halfway down the home straight in the upper tier (and under cover!). I know which I'd prefer!

Well not quite. The cheapest tickets for the medal sessions are at the ends of the stadium or back straight right up in the back rows, which is a considerable distance (binocular distance) from the action. However I think there is plenty of truth in the criticism that the expensive tickets are poor value for money relative to the cheaper tickets for the more popular events - Ceremonies, Athletics, Swimming, Gymnastics, Track Cycling. For these there seem to be two conflicting forces at work. Supply and Demand enabling lots of very expensive tickets to be sold versus the LOCOG boast of accessibility/affordability resulting in plenty of cheap tickets at the back.

I think that much of the LOCOG ticket process has been a total shambles. The lack of category seating plans and the actual allocations you can see in part results from the timescales and practicalities.

[pgee]

Thanks so much for your speedy and interesting replies everyone.
I can see this has really perked up this debate somewhat.

Perhaps we need to stick to specifics.

I have £420 tickets.
They are block 228 (past the far bend)
This is the absolute other end to the 100 meters start line and 35 rows back.
(that front row ticket sounds pretty good to me Jeremy...car to swap?)
That's 1/4 km from the 100 meters start line. I'll see blurs...

For the glass half full people out there..
IS this fair and reasonable or not?

[pgee]

One other thing. If you buy tickets now - they actually tell you the placement on the 2012 site....didn't previously.Although they do not tell us where the category of seats are still . Is is fair they are still hiding this information from everyone?
Or is openness not important?

[pgee]

oh and when I say they tell you where the seats are when you buy on the site, I mean they give you 1:50 sec to look up the seating and pay!!

[larkim]

Thanks so much for your speedy and interesting replies everyone.
I can see this has really perked up this debate somewhat.

Perhaps we need to stick to specifics.

I have £420 tickets.
They are block 228 (past the far bend)
This is the absolute other end to the 100 meters start line and 35 rows back.
(that front row ticket sounds pretty good to me Jeremy...car to swap?)
That's 1/4 km from the 100 meters start line. I'll see blurs...

For the glass half full people out there..
IS this fair and reasonable or not?

I'm a half full person - can't argue that I would feel fairly upset that those don't give a great view of the 100m races. But possibly not badly located for the WTJ final, fine views of the line up / start for the 1500m, OK for distance track events etc. Still, I would have expected that for £420 a ticket you'd have at least somewhere in blocks 250-256, or 201-220.

Just had a look at mine - Block 239 for morning 7th August, so OK for start of M200, probably good for WJ quali (give me a close look at Goldie any day!), probably OK for TF quali too (presuming these are as per the diagram on the back straight, not on the home straight). Block 230 for the 8th which I don't think are as good - both sets are "B" class tickets.

But wherever I'm sat, I'm going to enjoy it without worrying about "the man"!!

Matt

[jeremy1]

Some really naive people around, but I just sold my crappy tickets ordered in Spring last year to a friend so I will watch at home.

Of course they did not tell people cos as somebody said, the awful tickets were sold without the slightest clue being offered as to the general postion of the tickets if not the full details. We made a natural assumption that we would get decent seats for £420.

LOCOG never said to the public pay a vast sum of money for Grade A tickets and we will put you miles from the finish at the end of the back straight, but lucky fellow, you are right at the front. An experienced organiser of Track tours in the UK told me that his punters do NOT wish to sit at a WC in the lousy locations offered at this OG.

I assume most people here have been to other Olympics and to WC events; I have never failed to know from the organisation I have gone with a full knowledge of where I would be, what block, for the money I paid. For example for Stuttgart 93 and Athens 97 I paid second top prices for back straight opposite the finish BUT high enough up to see the overall picture.

Far superior for the rubbish seats offered by LOCOG and I absolutely refuse to believe some of the stuff on this thread about poor LOCOG would never shaft you. :lol

For Gods sake, wise up a little; this has been the most appalling example of modern commercialism at play in the sports arena and it was done quite deliberately.
You dont need A levels to work out that Thomas Cook ,as one example, of 24 sponsors, would NOT have paid millions for their seats in various venues without knowing whether or not their customers, paying the most outrageous sums of money for their "packages", would be expected to sit in the open in the shittiest positions in the Olympic Stadium. So poor old LOCOG did not realise that fans generally want to sit with a good view, certainly not at the end of the back straight

Lets hope next years attendees in Moscow for the 2013 WC do not face this years farce.

Not bitter, just disappointed at the sheer effrontery of the LOCOG people.

[Laps]

Some really naive people around, but I just sold my crappy tickets ordered in Spring last year to a friend so I will watch at home.

Of course they did not tell people cos as somebody said, the awful tickets were sold without the slightest clue being offered as to the general postion of the tickets if not the full details. We made a natural assumption that we would get decent seats for £420.

LOCOG never said to the public pay a vast sum of money for Grade A tickets and we will put you miles from the finish at the end of the back straight, but lucky fellow, you are right at the front. An experienced organiser of Track tours in the UK told me that his punters do NOT wish to sit at a WC in the lousy locations offered at this OG.

I assume most people here have been to other Olympics and to WC events; I have never failed to know from the organisation I have gone with a full knowledge of where I would be, what block, for the money I paid. For example for Stuttgart 93 and Athens 97 I paid second top prices for back straight opposite the finish BUT high enough up to see the overall picture.

Far superior for the rubbish seats offered by LOCOG and I absolutely refuse to believe some of the stuff on this thread about poor LOCOG would never shaft you. :lol

For Gods sake, wise up a little; this has been the most appalling example of modern commercialism at play in the sports arena and it was done quite deliberately.
You dont need A levels to work out that Thomas Cook ,as one example, of 24 sponsors, would NOT have paid millions for their seats in various venues without knowing whether or not their customers, paying the most outrageous sums of money for their "packages", would be expected to sit in the open in the shittiest positions in the Olympic Stadium. So poor old LOCOG did not realise that fans generally want to sit with a good view, certainly not at the end of the back straight

Lets hope next years attendees in Moscow for the 2013 WC do not face this years farce.

Not bitter, just disappointed at the sheer effrontery of the LOCOG people.

Where I agree with you is that LOCOG were clearly more concerned about maximising demand and making sure that they sold every ticket they could, and far less concerned about what the customer thought of their seat position relative to cost. I am sure the public as a whole and the government would have applauded the selling of as many tickets as possible bit.

What you seem not to appreciate is that things have moved on and that an Olympic Games in London is a completely different animal to other events. Your comparison with Stuttgart 93 and Athens 97 is laughable. Public tickets could never have been in the finishing straight because that is where the media (total 21,000 at the Games), IOC, dignitaries and sponsors are. I doubt that much of that was in LOCOGs control.

I am sure you are also wrong about Thomas Cook and the other premium package sellers. Their tickets seem to have been much the same as everyone else's.

People may have been naive in the sense that they did not think it through and realise there was no possibility of getting the best views. However I have bought tickets from LOCOG knowing where they are and from foreign sellers having a good idea where they will be. I am aware of a lot of others who have done the same.

No doubt things will be back to normal at Moscow 2013 and even London 2017. The Olympic Games in London is something else. It's on an entirely different level of interest and demand. Maybe you were naive for not realising that?

[rob2012]

Hi, interesting topic. Seems you know what you're talking about so perhaps you can help me. I've never been to an athletic event but this time I'm going to the olympics and I'm very exited about it. I can buy two tickets for the final night at august 11 with 6 finals, including 4 running events (4x100m, 4x400m, 800m and 5000m). I've got two options fot the seats. Block 240 or block 255 (same rows more or less). 240 is more central but 255 seems more close to the running tracks and perhaps better view on the finish. Any thoughts?

Thank you!

[ferafestiva]

I was wondering whether my seats were any good having paid £420 and finding I was quite high up in block 217 (row 55) , reading this I realise I've actually been very lucky with my allocation, I'm just down from the finish line and high enough up to see across the field

[jeremy1]

The point is that when you pay 420 quid and are deliberately not even given a rough guide to where you may be, you naturally have to take a gamble on the second most expensive seats AND in addition you reasonably do not assume that those seats, Grade A, are in the worst part of the stadium, end of back straight, and the first bloody row so you see very little ..

The public and the press have finally cottoned on to the devious and deceitful conduct of the LOCOG people from day one who were quite happy to be seduced by those American ticket agencies who are only concerned with profiteering all over the Olympic park; the national press have woken up to the game played for the benfit not only of 24 sponsors but worst of all the Ticket Agencies who are sitting and waiting for last minute package buying to make a big fat profit; thats the real reason you see big rows of empty seats.

The fans mean b*gger all to the IOC and that marketing smoothie Coe with his speeches about " there will be no empty seats in this Olympics unlike Beijing" . He is a bare faced liar talking about the crowds are packed to the rafters when we can all see that this is absolutely rubbishthe on our screens.

The situation in the mainn stadium for the track and field will be largely the same ; just wait and see the cameras showing the empty seats .


Ther are some really naive people on this MB.

Laps, you comments were mostly nonsense about my expectations

I have never said nor have I expected seats on the main straight( been to far too many WC and Olympics to expect that), but what could have been avoided was not giving a clue as to where very expensive seats might be. Should have been in back straight half way up with a view, under cover, and generally opposite the finish; as it is a lot of the cheaper seats have better views in better locations under the roof and costing far less than I paid( I got rid of my tickets to friend, thank goodness).


You may wonder whether the some of the people at the top in charge of ticketing have ever been to a major track meet .

David Barnett who knows a bit about these things told me he saw the top honcho on ticketing philosophy well over a year ago and mentioned that surely a few hundred tickets for fans could be offered; big joke thought the man in question

[ferafestiva]

I agree with you but as you can see by my allocation that isn't always the case- I have seats that are high up enough to see the entire field whilst being on the correct side to see the finish line - and as has been said already here - what is one man's nightmare i sanother's dream ticket.

Personally I'm happy - i'll see the Blake beat Bolt from a good seat....

[Laps]

Laps, you comments were mostly nonsense about my expectations

I have never said nor have I expected seats on the main straight( been to far too many WC and Olympics to expect that), but what could have been avoided was not giving a clue as to where very expensive seats might be. Should have been in back straight half way up with a view, under cover, and generally opposite the finish; as it is a lot of the cheaper seats have better views in better locations under the roof and costing far less than I paid( I got rid of my tickets to friend, thank goodness).

jeremy1
What a fuss over tickets you could have just put in resale and got your money back. Instead of selling your 'crappy' tickets to your oldest friend. LOL

[jeremy1]

Laps, I got my money back and certainly have had enough of those LOCOG people to bother with them on resale.

You either do not know or do not care about the disastrous, deceitful sh*t that is the ticketing system in these Games; but to some posters its wasting time to point out that the system was intended to deny fans the right to fill the stadia so as to get the money in the bank over a year ago from Ticket Agencies and Sponsors who have not been fully successful and are still holding packages which they are hoping to flog at obscene profits.
The view of empty seats is only partially down to International Federations and Olympic family not taking up their seats or a few uninterested VIPs; its the ruddy Ticket Agencies like Cosport, Jetset, Ticketmaster and greedy corporates others who are strangling the ability of fans to see sports and cultural events, which you think is acceptable.

Despite the panic by Coe and other spokespersons in the last 48 hours its all too late cos the Ticket Agencies have contracts and the tickets in their grubby little hands. Do try and understand.

Keep an eye on the cameras as they sweep round in the mornings like yesterday when during the swimming a whole section of hundreds of seats was two thirds empty. Watch it happen starting next Friday in the Stadium

How farcical to hear the LOCOG people begging certain groups for a few extra seats to placate the media and the public; you'll get f**k all response from the big ticket agencies; they only know about money, money, money. Are you a banker as well , Laps???

[Laps]

jeremy1

It seems to me that LOCOG are just acting like any other 'commercial' organisation in 2012. They have a duty, ultimately to the taxpayer, to maximise revenue to help pay their bit towards the cost of the games. Hardly sinister. But they are up to all the usual strategies of modern marketing and media management. I don't like that, you don't like that, but it's the world we live in and there are worse examples I come across daily.

There was a time when banks looked after their customers in a paternalistic way. Now they are amongst the least trusted and trustworthy. Not a problem, just keep your eye on them.

I think you have got it wrong about ticket agencies. I have bought tickets from Eventeam (France), Dertour (Germany), ATP (Netherlands), Sportsworld (Denmark etc) and have watched several other countries sellers firstly trying to sell as many expensive packages as possible and then offloading their tickets without hotel rooms and travel. From what I have seen in the last few months these sellers have been inundated by British buyers (thousands of tickets sold in minutes) and will have sold 95%+ of their tickets in popular sports and returned those unsold. The British premium sellers will have done the same, explaining in part the batch sales by LOCOG which have been going on at all hours of the day and night.

The LOCOG 'fill empty seats' thing is just the modern media bollox that we see every day from companies/organisations under pressure to do, or not do something. It is easier to say they will do what they can than try to explain all the intricacies and bring down the wrath of the media upon themselves. Anyone looking at this objectively knows that it is the IOC and National Olympic Committees who demand x% of tickets in prime positions (for athletes/coaches, hangers-on, bigwigs and people who have devoted their lives to organising sports). This happens at the very beginning of the Olympic bidding process and London was in no position to argue. Getting all the seats filled all the time is more trouble than it is worth as it requires school kids or troops hanging about all the time on the offchance. Is that what we really want?

There was never going to be 100% sales for the less popular sports in massive venues. 50% is an impossible dream for some of them. Those tickets have been available to buy for months and still are. The media typically is confusing the two issues.

You should have gone with resale. I sold back three lots of less popular tickets than yours and they were sold almost immediately with a minimum of effort, apart from just posting the tickets back.

[Ashton]

A last some sense!
Uka / EA have offered all London Clubs the chance to buy tickets for the athletics (only 25-50 per club though).
Bit late in the day but their hand was forced by Lord Coe.

[foxo]

what about the rest of the clubs in the country

[Ashton]

sorry no idea!
theres a helluva lot of anger at EA amongst London Clubs though as despite being the Host City there's been absolutely no benefit or support by our sport's governing body!

My club has been totally unaffected- we offered to be a training venue but were turned down (as it happens that's apparently a good thing though). Other sports such as hockey, judo, badminton and football have offered clubs tickets in advance of the public sale but its only this week that a few tickets have been offered for sale. Better late than never though.

[johndoeolympics]

I've noticed that the seats (best ones probably) next to the 100m stretch of the Olympic Stadium have black panels with cords going out of them. Do you know what those are for? Voting? Food Service? (The prime minister was sitting in that section).