Corporate tickets to the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa are selling at twice the rate of the competition in Germany two years ago, even as economic conditions worsened, an executive said.
The first round of sales brought in $95 million, according to Derek Carstens, the event's chief marketing officer. At the same point, German organizers had raised $45 million. Companies including sportswear maker Adidas AG, South African telecoms company MTN Group Ltd. and Coca-Cola Co. have bought tickets, he said. Organizers want to get $400 million in corporate sales.
``Sales are double that of Germany right now,'' Carstens said in an interview in London. ``Everything is going to plan.''
The competition starts in June 2010, the first time the world's most popular sporting event takes place on the continent. South Africa's government has committed 550 billion rand ($54 billion) to make sure the country has stadiums, hotels and other infrastructure to deal with the 450,000 visitors expected from outside the region.
Carstens said he didn't think the current economic conditions would cut the number of visitors. The potential loss of European fans is likely to be balanced by the increase from Mexico, Argentina and other Latin American nations, he said.
``I'm sure secondary events will suffer but the World Cup, like the Olympics, is in a different league,'' he said.
Jamie Byron, chairman of Match Hospitality, the World Cup's official ticket marketing partner, said corporate sales are likely to reach their breakeven target by November next year.
``This week's the biggest we've had so far,'' he said in an interview at the World Travel Market trade show in London.
Recession Proof
This year's Olympics Games in Beijing were notable for the number of empty seats at many venues. Byron said the World Cup will be a sellout. ``We are talking about an event that's oversubscribed by 1,000 percent,'' he said.
Still, much of the world's media continues to speculate on the readiness of South Africa to host the competition, with security and construction work the main areas of concern.
Carstens said an extra 30,000 police officers have been recruited and another 60,000 closed circuit television cameras installed to make the country ``the last place on God's earth that a criminal wants to be.''
All the country's stadiums are on schedule and on budget, he said. Strikes by workers over pay have held up projects in the past and the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth had to be pulled from next summer's Confederations Cup because of construction delays.
The draw for that competition, which features the host nation and Spain, Brazil, U.S., Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand and Italy, will take place in Johannesburg next weekend.
(Source: Bloomberg)
