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Posted: Tuesday, June  25, 2002

Corporate fat cats get best seats at World Cup final

Prices for finals tickets keep going up, and the average fan cannot compete with corporate spending.

Thousands of "genuine fans" will be denied the chance to see Sunday's World Cup final because many seats have been bought for corporate fat cats on a business jaunt, industry sources said.

Some fans say they have sold or re-mortgaged their own house to pay for tickets to see the game on Sunday, which are fetching some $4,000 on the black market.

But around one-sixth of some 70,000 people travelling to International Stadium Yokohama just outside Tokyo will be on corporate hospitality packages, more interested in networking than football, says a former corporate hospitality sales executive who requested anonymity.

"The people who go on these jollies are at the top level of their businesses, we are talking about the CEOs, presidents, directors and senior management," he said.

"(Many) are usually not very fired up about the game, and treat the experience purely as a business opportunity ... it's a shame that the genuine fans miss out just because they get priced out of the market."

But football's international governing body FIFA insisted this was not the case as a mere 2.8 per cent of the 3.2 million tickets to the month-long competition co-hosted by Japan and South Korea were sold as official corporate hospitality packages.

Some went to World Cup sponsors to be used in promotions, offering poorer members of the public a chance to see matches, said FIFA spokesperson Regula Bleuer.

"Through these promotions, real football fans, who could possibly not afford to buy a ticket for the FIFA World Cup, are offered the possibility to participate in the event," Bleuer said.

However FIFA allocated a wider 10 per cent of seats at the final for companies. In addition, a string of event firms have compiled their own corporate packages, raising the ratio of business suits to face-painted fans.

"We offer a full day's hospitality around the game," said Rob Taylor, a sales executive at the Tokyo branch of ICM hospitality group owned by Markus Evans, an events company headquartered in the United Kingdom.

"Everything has been sold... a lot of people have spent a lot of money."

FIFA's corporate tickets cost between $400 and $2,600 - up to six-and-a-half times the value of a regular seat - and come with transport to and from the game, some food and a gift.

But corporate events organised by other companies cost up to $10,000 a head, industry sources said.

"Usually we start off with a champagne reception and a buffet and then depending what time the game finishes there might be a dinner afterwards," said the former sales executive, who sold around 500 tickets for the World Cup final over the past two years before resigning.

Graham Bell, a director at G and B Plumbing and Heating Suppliers from England, was flown out to South Korea and Japan with a group of fellow plumbers to watch two quarter final matches courtesy of South Korean company PlumbFast.

"I do realise that I am very lucky to come out here," Bell said.

"A lot of the guys with me are not really into football, but they still go along as it is all free."

By contrast, many real football fans have made enormous sacrifices to follow their team through the competition, said Kevin Miles, international coordinator for England's Football Supporters Association.

"It costs a lot of money but they have worked hard, people have sold houses to come out here and I know a number of people who have taken out another mortgage," Miles said.

"They will spend the next few years paying off this holiday," he said estimating fans were spending an average of around 5,000 pounds ($7,500), each on the trip.

Mick Andrews, 32, a bus driver from London, said he had spent at least that much after he bought a ticket for the final off one of the many touts who have flocked to Tokyo.

"It makes me so angry to think of those fat executives sitting in the best seats at the match, sipping champagne and doing business deals. They have minimal interest in football," he said.