Berlin blushes as World Cup gala cancelled

[Kellanved]

Germany has been planning to use this summer's football World Cup to showcase the country's vibrant and positive image. But it will now have to do so without the aid of the Black Eyed Peas and soprano Jessye Norman.

Fifa, world football's governing body, made the embarrassing announcement that it had cancelled the tournament's opening gala - because of fears it would damage the grass in the 75,000-seat Olympiastadion, in Berlin.

While Fifa blamed the cancellation of an event which has been planned for months and would have involved 5,000 volunteer performers on likely damage to the pitch, the German press speculated it had fallen victim to poor ticket sales and costs spiralling above the event's €25m (£17m) budget. Tickets were priced at between €100 (£68) and €750.
...
A separate row has already hit the Munich ceremony with Bavarian folk dancers complaining they have been allocated just 45 seconds to perform as Germany tries to sell the world a less stereotyped image of itself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1686330,00.html


This is really a "nice" move. The "grass" explanation is naturally a bad joke, as was the pricetag. It was clear from the beginning that there was no way in hell people would pay upwards of 100 Euros to see a 90 minutes amateur dance show.
This was a pretty well-planned move against Berlin: Berlin was forced to accept the gala as a compensation for the opening match and the HQ going to Munich; now the Berlin part of the agreement was cancelled.
As stated before; the pricetag was absurd, but it was not even possible to get tickets: the normal channels were barred from selling them, the only way to get tickets was a complex application procedure - bottom line the fifa didn't want the opening ceremony and backstabbed it.
I have to say : the whole world cup is becoming a farce: almost no tickets are on sale, as McDonalds, CocaCola and Budweiser have bought almost all of them. The Fifa claims that to be their right, as they are paying a few millions for their sponsor status. This naturally begs the question, why the European/German public has no sponsor status, considering the billions paid for hosting the event. :grr:

[joeybee12]

1. Only 45 seconds for Bavarain folk dancers! The horror!

You're right, corporate America has bought out sports--I wonder what the precentage is for US sports--I mean, the % of seats taken by companies that in turn use them for clients, etc., leaving us poor Joe Schmoes unable to get in. Also really jacks up the ticket prices as well.