Public being Shut Out of Olympics

[whatnext]

From a great series in the Seattle Times. Shameful the hotel gouging that's going on, fighting for the leftovers after Olympic sponges and sponsors have had their shot at the trough :

.....Jim Jeffreys got lucky — sort of. The Seattle school administrator landed $2,100 worth of Olympic tickets, then struggled to find a way to use them in a city where basic hotels are charging more than $1,000 a night.

Ed Dooley got mad. After scoring four tickets, then giving up on lodging, the retired chief financial officer from Sequim spent the better part of a year writing letters and making angry phone calls about an Olympic ticketing and accommodations system he calls a classic, unregulated monopoly.

Dooley's conclusion: "I think they're a bunch of bandits."...

The truth: The public will be a bit player in the made-for-TV drama unfolding in Vancouver and Whistler. Consider:

• In spite of record demand, fans seeking tickets to premier events such as medal-round hockey games will have access to only about one-quarter of the seats normally available in Vancouver's 19,000-seat General Motors Place. Sponsors, media and VIPs take the lion's share....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2010276798_olytickets15.html