The Crowd, and Its Roar, a No-Show at Games So Far

Four days into the Olympics, crowds at many venues have been sparse, with television coverage beaming shots around the world of row upon row of empty seats -- an image organizers had sought for years to avoid.

At the 2000 Sydney Games, beach volleyball at Bondi was the rocking place to be; here, during daytime matches, TV cameras show an empty blue upper deck with every serve. At the gymnastics competition, entire blocks of orange seats have gone unfilled. There were no more than a few dozen fans in the stands Monday morning for archery at the historic Panathinaikon stadium in central Athens.

Athens organizers took exception to any suggestion that crowds were unduly low, saying the Games were on target to make revenue projections and that they expected attendance to pick up as the competition built toward more of the medal rounds.

“Of course we’ll be seeing a big increase,” Michalis Zacharatos, a senior Athens 2004 official, said Monday.

But how big an increase remains unclear, posing a challenge for organizers as empty seats threaten to become a defining image of the Games.

On Monday, total tickets sold were expected to pass 3 million; a total of 5.3 million were available before the Games. By comparison, about 7 million tickets were sold at Sydney, a record 92% of the total available.

The sluggish tally can be explained in part by the failure of huge numbers of tourists to materialize and, for Greeks, a combination of lack of interest, August vacations, dismay over the fall of their athletic heroes and what some call Olympic fatigue.

“If it continues this way, it’s a real tragedy,” said John Mac- Aloon, a University of Chicago professor and expert on the history of the Olympic movement. “It gives a false impression to international viewers that it’s difficult to get seats or get transportation to and from the venues. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tickets are readily available. The transportation system is working marvelously.”

Behind the scenes, television executives from around the globe have been pleading with organizers to do something to fix the problem, recalling the size and exuberance of the crowds at earlier Olympics, such as the 1994 Winter Games in Norway.

“You need the noise. You need the Lillehammer effect,” said a television executive not affiliated with U.S. broadcaster NBC, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Lillehammer was magic because it had the people. Why do you watch TV? To watch empty concrete? If there’s nobody there, it’s nothing.”

Organizers say they will not give out free tickets or corral schoolchildren to fill seats, or even offer discount tickets. They also said that empty seats were to be expected over the weekend because of celebrations Sunday for a religious holiday. “We are very, very satisfied with ticket sales so far,” Zacharatos said.

Organizers have expected some empty seats for years.

They knew security concerns had dimmed attendance prospects for these Games -- the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Bombings in Madrid and Istanbul, Turkey, also contributed to an unease among some who might have considered traveling to Greece. One travel packager had predicted that the U.S. turnout would be 20% less than in Sydney.

Moreover, the long run-up to the competition here featured ample publicity about construction delays and doping scandals, especially the ongoing case involving Greek track stars Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou. The scandal continues to dominate all local news in Athens, far outweighing the Games in importance.

“They made fools of Greece, that’s why everyone is staying away from the Games,” said a taxi driver in his mid-50s named Giorgo. He wouldn’t give his last name, but said he appreciated the Olympics because he hoped to make lots of money in fares during the two-week event.

Privately, organizers also had expressed reservations about the Greek public’s unfamiliarity with such sports as team handball and badminton.

In addition, they had voiced concerns about the ability of workaday Greeks to buy tickets, since the per-capita income here is about $11,000. For that reason, some tickets are priced as low as 10 euros, or about $12; many of the lower-priced tickets are to soccer games.

At the high end: 350 euros, about $420, to track and field finals and other traditional Olympic attractions.

Although the Greek government required workers in public utilities, security and related fields to stay put and forgo their vacation, tens of thousands of the Greeks most likely to be able to afford tickets fled to their summer haunts.

“I’m not going. When can I go? How can I go? I have to work,” said Athens resident Dina Kiriapoulou, 57. “Besides, we found no tickets for any of the finals, which is the only games we would go to.”

Many Greeks are simply sick and tired of the whole thing, a kind of Olympic fatigue after years of planning and much criticism of Greece’s efforts.

“There has been so much focus on the pre-Olympics -- will we be ready? Criticism that Greece was not doing well, the costs, lots of negative writing. We were caught up in that and didn’t have time to think about participating,” said George Papandreou, former foreign minister and head of the opposition Socialist party.

The fallout is evident from attendance figures released by organizers.

Of the 53 events held Sunday, only 14 drew crowds that filled two-thirds or more of the stands. Weightlifting is well known in Greece, producing any number of Greek Olympic heroes, including the flag-bearer in Friday night’s opening ceremony, Pyrros Dimas. Even so, a session Monday morning drew 831 in a hall holding 3,510.

After Sunday’s second gymnastics session, at which the U.S. women performed, USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi said, “I’m surprised to see as many empty seats as there have been. The atmosphere has been a little subdued.”

Monday’s U.S.-Czech Republic women’s basketball game drew an announced crowd of 954. “For the most part, when we first run out, it’s empty, so you wonder how many people are going to show up,” said U.S. basketball star Lisa Leslie.

Late Monday night, in a sign that things might be picking up, the beach volleyball venue was nearly packed for a match between Australian and Greek women’s teams.

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, head of the organizing committee, said at the match that any attendance issues were primarily limited to morning sessions. “It will be better,” she said, shouting to be heard over the roar of the crowd.

Another Athens 2004 official said the situation would improve by the end of the week.

“You’ll see,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“On television and in the stands. These people who have bought 3 million tickets -- they’re going to go to the venues.”

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Times staff writers Helene Elliott, Diane Pucin and Tracy Wilkinson and special correspondent Natalie Weeks contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Empty feeling

Organizers of the Athens 2004 Olympics are now reporting about 57% of the total 5.3 million tickets have been sold. Final figures for the two previous Summer Olympics were much higher.

Atlanta 1996: 82.3%

Sydney 2000: 92%

Athens 2004 (to date): 57%

Sources: Chicago Tribune; Los Angeles Times