Ryder ticket frenzy up and running
All the indications are that only a limited percentage of the many thousands of Irish men and women wishing to see the match will be successful.
Richard Hills, chairman of Ryder Cup Ltd., admitted in Dublin yesterday that the daily attendance will be restricted to 40,000 spectators.
Of that allocation, 7,500 will be consumed each day by the corporate sector, another 2,500 will go to the United States - and already they are dealing with 50,000 requests through the European Tour website.
"We are going forward with a multi-sponsored programme," said Mr Hills who also announced that the Allianz insurance group has joined several other companies as an official sponsor of the matches on September 22-24, 2006.
"There has been a strong response to the corporate hospitality programme. Effectively, we're all but sold out of the 7,500 covers that we're putting into the corporate sector. There will be a strong Irish flavour at both the opening and closing ceremonies and at the gala dinner that will be held at the CityWest facility. The gate will have a ceiling of 40,000 spectators per day.
"Full details of the ticketing offer will be revealed during the Nissan Irish Open in May. It will predominantly be a web-based application system although paper applications will be accepted. Anyone who has applied for details needn't apply again. The offer will run through until the week after the British Open in July. We have evolved the ticket matrix to ensure that as many people as possible have an opportunity of experiencing the matches. We have to ensure it's a pan-European offering under EC law, something we've had to adhere to for the last three home matches."
Six-thousand five-hundred rooms have been pre-booked by the Ryder Cup committee in the greater Kildare-Dublin area while a park and ride system, as at The Belfry in 2002, will operate throughout the week.
"We're endeavouring to keep as many cars as possible away from the vicinity of Straffan," said Mr Hills. "The park and ride facility will be at Weston Airfield with a shuttle service to a purpose built bus terminal near The K-Club. There will also be a park and ride south western facility at Palmerston House, so we will be splitting the traffic as we assemble the data as to where the tickets have gone.
"We have met with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy on a number of occasions and the whole project has been receiving his personal attention along with co-operation from the government."
There is concern that many of the 40,000 spectators will be unable to see a lot of the action, especially with only four matches in each of the four sessions over the first two days.
Edward Kitson, the Tour's Event Staging Director said: "It is a unique challenge for us. We're putting in 17,000 seats in grandstands dotted around the course free of charge on an unreserved basis. There are some difficult areas and the exact plan for spectator movement is still being worked on. We have removed gorse and some trees already to clear the way for some of the grandstands which will be located at fourteen of the eighteen holes. Additional mounding and cart paths will also be built in the coming months."
The profit from the matches at The Belfry in 2002 was in the region of £10 million. Ticket sales alone this time will bring in e10m so it may be that the overall revenue in 2006 could well exceed double that figure. The 2005 match was worth US$77m to the Detroit area with the near certainty that the figure in Ireland will be over e100m.
The European Tour is undaunted at putting on what is set to become one of the greatest sporting events in this country. The Ryder Cup has become so big as to threaten to get completely out of control but as Richard Hills pointed out, they now have considerable experience in this area.
"The model is exactly what we applied at Valderrama through to The Belfry. It's a very similar model to the last two home matches. The profits are divided 60% between the Tour and 20% each between the PGA and the PGA of Europe after certain management fees, salaries etc are taken out."
"Ticket terms and conditions will require that they are non transferable," he stressed. "We reserve the right to insist that if a ticket is sold to a certain individual that it is used by that individual. It is one of the methods we use to track down corporate piracy, if a ticket is being transferred, we can actually refuse admission to that ticket. That is stated in the terms of the application. So we will do everything to stop the evolution of a black market."
And then, of course, there's the question of security.
"We've had discussions with Commissioner Conroy. The threat assessment for sports events is an issue which is constantly monitored. Heaven forbid that anything should happen between now and the matches on the scale of 9/11 but it is something the guards will watch and an appropriate level of security will be applied."
