Jump the Line

[roger]

waiting in line.jpg (119.37 KiB) Viewed 1277 times

My eldest son just returned from England where he attended Wimbledon. He was very impressed with the civility of the English Q-lines
Waiting lines in the United States are quite different... First of all, one never reaches the front because of all the "Crashees".. Worst yet are the muggings along the way.

I am curious as to who gets the choice Wimbledon tickets in advance so as to avoid the Q-lines.
Again, the United States is quite different. Somehow, a great number of the best seats get into the hands of scalpers who sell these tickets at ridiculous prices. ROGER

[roger]

Just to keep this post "on target"............He did not see any coin operated machines. ROGER

Moved here to keep it more on target - Site Admin.

[coppinpr]

Wimbledon tickets might come as a shock to an American. Tickets for the numerous outside courts are sold just as tickets are for any major event and are subject to scalping at street level. BUT if you want good seats on court 1 or centre court you really need to own a "Debenture". There is a waiting list to be a debenture holder (although you can jump up the list by buying a place on the list from another person already on the list). Tennis bores me but my best friend is a debenture holder and sometimes drags me along. It costs £80,000 to own a debenture which lasts 5 years. This gets you into 5 tournaments a year, four of which no one goes to. It does give you two tickets every day to the Wimbledon tournament. Most debenture holders sell their tickets for some days in an attempt to make a profit on the cost but this only really works if you sell the tickets on the big days, so if you're a tennis fan it's either pay to see the big games of cover the cost and watch on TV. Around 1500 to 2500 debentures are renewed each year, so a hell of a windfall for the club. The 2024 debenture sale earned the club a staggering £200,000,000.

Some of the centre court and court 1 seats are held back by the LTA and sold to corporate clients and some to the rich and famous. At the other end of the scale suppliers to Wimbledon get given a few tickets each (only outside courts). I used to know the baker who delivered there and he got 6 tickets per year (which he quickly sold).

[john t peterson]

And I thought we Yanks had the monopoly on scalping the punters.

J Peterson
Ticket to Ride, USA

[special when lit]

£80000? You could buy a nice Mills Futurity for that!

[highfield]

I think you have John. Am in Las Vegas at the moment. Beer in Nine Fine Irishmen in New York New York is $14 plus tax plus up to 22% tip. Makes it $19 a beer !!!

[john t peterson]

Enough to cause a man to stop drinking...almost.

J Peterson
On the wagon, not. USA

[highfield]

And it’s only 3/4 of a pint as well John

[coppinpr]

And it's not real beer anyway.

[highfield]

Pool Water