Rugby Sevens Ticket Shortage - A proposal

[Monde]

To the folks who pay $3000 / set .. I say, a fool and his money....

Unless they believe that being at the game is worth $3000. Everyone has their price and certain things are more important. I would spend that on Rugby, Ballet or the Opera but would not spend half of that on a Rock Concert.

I suppose it comes down to the individual person.

[KnowItAll]

>> Rugby, Ballet

If the All Blacks did a Swan Lake .. I would pay that amount of money too.

(Sorry .. did not see that , in there)

[Monde]

If the All Blacks did a Swan Lake .. I would pay that amount of money too.

(Sorry .. did not see that , in there)

Now that would be worth a LOT......although I am not sure I would want to see the Blacks in tights.

[Sleuth]

Now that would be worth a LOT......although I am not sure I would want to see the Blacks in tights.

But you would probably agree that they deserved to wear them.

[twlewis]

Up front - I would be happy if families could be in attendance but it doesn't matter if the family, mate, friend, player, fan etc... is into swan lake, a lover/hater/indifferent of the Sevens, a diehard couch fan, a poser who comes out for only weekend per year or an avid club supporter - this is a commercial event that went commercial when the sport went professional. I would love to see more knobby knee-ed little boys and girls and their mums & dads take in the Sevens, but there is no crying about it - this is a professional event and no one is the fool for paying any price voluntarily. Even if someone weren't a fan of rugby, but loved the environment, and the [perceived] prestige, the market IS the market. If you want Sevens be free or open and/or theoretically available to anyone who is a geniune fan and orders tickets - then agree to raise your taxes to ensure that the Ministy of Sport etc..is funded to make that priority be structured for universal participation throughout the society. If it's a niche - and that is definitely the case for rugby - then accept that the argument for universality is moot. It is available 100% live on free-to-air TV - and there are a lot of venues that offer great atmospheres for watching it on TV. Remember that the buck stops with the players ultimately and they are professionals, providing professional entertainment services for an open market. They no longer train 100% for only the love - they now have to make it a career - and it's a short one at best. No different than Neil Young, the Wiggles, a Formula 1 grandprix, the World Series or the World Cup. Further, the fact that HK gov't can't recognise that scalping is a reality that comes with an open market is pathetic. What's hilarious is that Invest HK has ads that run at the Sevens that says "HKG = World's most open economy" at an event that is forbidden from its market price to be paid. If the gov't doesn't want to condone scalping because of their [poor attempt at] calling it a morality issue, fine, but don't ban it. But let the market go where it goes... Eventually, if it is only the rich boys hanging out, then it will theoretically lose some of its lustre to the pure tournaments or sports that truly celebrate the pure open spirit of sport and not cash. Right now, it's tough for the whiners to acknowledge or accept this because they can't see when/how/where the pendulum could possibly swing back towards grass roots... and until then, It would be better if everyone forgot about whining and if they wanted to attend, then fight to find a way to get tickets and if they can't because of cost, they should accept their place in life... period. I save to afford my 7s tickets. And someday I'll save enough for a Ferrari, but to think that Ferraris should be available to the most geniune hard-core car enthusiast... forget it. No way. The true gear heads don't actually own Ferraris, but they are bigger than to whine about their inability to afford one in any forum or at any round of banter in the pub.

[PDLM]

Could I suggest taking some verbal immodium and using paragraphs, and then someone might actually read what you write!