Empty Seats Anger Olympic Fans; Students, Soldiers Fill In

For any sports fan, seeing an Olympic event played live is the ultimate dream, which is why countless sports fans stewed in anger as they sat at home and watched Olympic history unfold. Many tried for months to get tickets to sold-out events, only to turn on the TV and see rows and rows of empty seats. On Sunday, 500 seats sat empty during morning swimming heats at the Aquatics Centre, more than 1,000 went unused at the gymnastics morning session, and at Earl's Court, nearly a quarter of seats were vacant during volleyball matchups.

The poor turnout for the first day's events may have been exacerbated by the late-night finish of the Opening Ceremony, but the problem of empty seats at Olympic events is nothing new. While ticketing snafus were responsible for some open seats, the majority of vacancies were in seats that were never offered for public sale to begin with, reserved for members of the Olympic family, which includes IOC officials, National Olympic Committees and international federations, as well as seats reserved for corporate sponsors and media. IOC stipulations reserve at least 20 percent of seats for accredited individuals, and even more for more popular events. But when these ticket-holders are no-shows, it leaves some of the best seats in the house - and the ones most visible on camera - empty.

Organizers had prepared for the eventuality, granting nearly 150 school children and teachers access to Olympic Park and also directing them to fill seats as needed. They employed other tactics, as well, once again calling on the military to save the day. Soldiers already on hand to cover a security staffing shortage were invited to take up empty seats, an action that has received some criticism that the tactic was "shambolic." Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, sees nothing wrong with it, telling the Guardian, "If we have the army sitting there on rest periods we can ask them if they want to sit in there and watch it. It's not mobilizing the army to resolve this. I don't think there is a single person out there would think it is shambolic, given the way they have stepped up in the last weeks."

Numerous solutions have been suggested to fill the seats, including a ticket-recycling program to resell unused tickets to fans. Lord Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Committee, proposed a 30-minute rule, wherein unclaimed seats would be resold or given to fans after half an hour. "We owe it to the British sporting public to give them an opportunity to attend one of the most historic sporting events of their lives," he said.

Coe dismissed the 30-minute idea, believing that the issue is not a huge concern and will likely sort itself out as ticket-holders organize their schedules. "There are tens of thousands of people at the moment within the accredited family who are trying to figure out what their day looks like," he said. "I am pretty sure that this is not going to be an issue that we are going to be talking about in three or four days' time as we start emerging from the preliminary rounds."

Still, it's evident that fans are upset about the preference shown to corporate sponsors and officials who appear to lack appreciation for the opportunity. A Twitter account, @Olympicseat, which had more than 12,600 followers as of Monday morning, expresses the frustration and disappointment from the perspective of the empty seat: "It was my lifelong ambition to be an Olympic seat. To provide rest and comfort for cheering sports fans. I feel like such a failure."