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Guest4178
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 Posted - 01/13/2011 : 09:14:55
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There was some dialogue about this subject matter under the subject heading "WJC Team," but I think this needs a new thread.
Three days ago, I received the wonderful news that I was chosen as a WJC ticket lottery winner, eligible to purchase as many as six tickets to all of the games at the WJC. (21 games in Calgary.)
Here's the wording in their announcement, which I now realize has a certain caveat within:
"Congratulations! Over 186,000 fans registered for the Priority Draw and your name was drawn for access to Calgary ticket packages for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta!
Your purchase window begins at:
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 2:00 pm (MT)
You may purchase on or after your purchase window; however, due to high demand and limited availability you are encouraged to purchase as soon as your window becomes available. Actual ticket availability will depend on the uptake of earlier Priority Draw purchasers. You may purchase up to 6 ticket packages which include all 21 tournament games being played..."
Fast forward to today, and here's the latest announcement:
"HUGE DEMAND FOR WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP TICKET PACKAGES
The uptake of World Junior Championship ticket packages has been unprecedented and as a result, ticket availability is now limited to singles only and may not be available."
WHAT?
I'm guessing that the priority draw put lottery "winners" in groups. For example, my time to book tickets was for 2 pm MDT today, so I suspect some of the lottery winners had earlier times.
And I also suspect that the organizers severely underestimated the demand. For example, most of the lottery winners are probably going to buy the maximum amount of tickets (6 each), and if I'm correct about them staggering the booking times for tickets, the earlier buyers have or are buying to the max.
IF (and that's a big if, because I don't know), this is very poorly done. To inform someone that they won the ticket lottery (and that they could purchase as many as 6 tickets), and then change it to one is ridiculous! (Even with the disclaimer in the first announcement.)
This reminds me of what the organizers did with the Heritage Hockey Classic in Edmonton, where they made a similar error. (Over-promising season-ticket holders on the number of tickets they could purchase, and making a very inaccurate forecast on how many tickets they would sell this way.) At first, season ticket holders were informed they could purchase 3, 4 or 5x (I can't remember the exact number, but it was a lot) their number of seats, but they had to change it to 1x per seat, due to the demand which too place soon after the original announcement.
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Guest4178
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Posted - 01/13/2011 : 11:16:12
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And then there were none.
Here's the latest announcement I received regarding WJC tickets, and just three days after getting the great (at the time) news that I was a lottery winner eligible to purchase as many as 6 tickets to all 21 games in Calgary:
"Please be advised that due to extremely high ticket demand, all Calgary ticket packages available in the Priority Draw have been purchased. In the event further ticket packages become available in the future, those who were selected in the Priority Draw will be contacted first."
Hey Beans – I hope you have (had) better luck!! |
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Mario 66
PickupHockey Pro
Canada
360 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2011 : 12:22:41
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Wow, that is bush league conviening right there. I apoligize to all who had the wind taken out of their sails after recieving their intial news.
If what you are saying is true then the convienors must live in their own little magical world to not realize there would be a severe demand for tickets with the event being held in Canada. You would think with the event being held in Buffalo this yr and being sold out to a majority of canadians and with the huge success of Red Deer & Saskatoon in the past couple yrs (believe those where the correct host) that it would be facetious for the organizers to think there would be anything but an abundance of people trying to scoop up these tickets. Especially Scalpers
Lemieux owns Gretzky |
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Beans15
Moderator
Canada
8286 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2011 : 13:58:14
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Well, I will find out tomorrow. It is actually a close friend who is in the ticket draw and I am buying 2 tickets, if still available.
The WJC organizing committee wanted the tickets to be sold out through the priority draw. However, if they did set up the priority draw where some people had access to tickets ahead of others and they did not block off enough tickets for everyone in the draw to get their fair share, well that's just horrible planning.
If this is the case, what was the point of the priority draw in the first place??? |
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Alex116
PickupHockey Legend
6113 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2011 : 16:59:09
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That's ridiculous. Wouldn't a little bit of grade 4 math have worked to figure this out??  |
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Beans15
Moderator
Canada
8286 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2011 : 07:49:32
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Yep, we didn't get our tickets either. Our draw time was Friday between 11am-1pm MST. On Thursday afternoon by pal with the draw got the e-mail saying all tickets were sold out.
Poor planning to say the least. Either draw fewer names for the draw or ensure that anyone who did get picked for the draw had a chance at at least 2 tickets. |
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WJC Ticket Fiasco? 
