UKC

Are going to be severely cut back owing to last minute budget cuts. Such a shame following the success of London. I can't help thinking the money could be found by someone from somewhere.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Very disappointing, but given the low ticket sales for the main games, it's not surprising that they have only sold 15% of the tickets.

Can't help but think the Brazilians have tried to keep things quiet for as long as possible, so as not to diminish the glory from the main games. Unfortunately it raises those questions about whether Brazil was the right choice. Then again, is it good to restrict it to just the biggest countries?

In reply to Yanis Nayu:
It's terrible when you thibnk these athletes have been working towards this for 4 years and some might not even get there. I'm hoping an airline or some of the bigger para countries (UK, US, European countries, chine, russia) will step in and sort it out.

A PR coup is awaiting a company that is willing to step up and pay for travel. In sponsorship terms £50m (which is the shortfall figure I have heard) is not a great deal given the positive press that could be span off it.

E.g. Macdonalds would get much better press than what they get for their current sponsorship deal

In reply to balmybaldwin:

I suspect Russia might impose one or two conditions before they bail them out...

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Oh yes forgot they've been thrown out completely

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

90% of the paralympics tickets remain unsold and lets be honest here they get forced onto the country the gets the Olympics.

In reply to Indy:


The Olympics and Paralympics are both part of the single package countries are invited to bid for. Nothing is being forced on anyone. I suspect there are some countries who might want to bid to hold the men's Olympics if only they wouldn't also have to hold women's events too, but they would not be considered acceptable bids.

Inclusiveness should not be seen as something forced upon a host nation, rather as a socially responsible prerequisite for host nation eligibility.

In reply to john arran:



Exactly... the paralympics would be dead in the water if it had to stand on its own hence its forced into the main package. "No dessert unless you eat your greens". Its 1st world political correctness gone mad. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink. You can force the paralymics onto an Olympic host city but you cant force people to go and the short fall is mainly to do with abysmal ticket sales.

In reply to Indy:

... Whoosh!

In reply to john arran:

Reality.

In reply to Indy:
You, of course, speak great sense.
But I (sadly) await the flaming

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Mark Zuckerberg wants to give 99% of his staggering wealth away. This would be a good place to start.

And by the way. Brazilians aren't going to the main olympics much. And they don't do advanced planning for buying tickets.

The tv exposure of paralympics has made them deservedly popular. It's political madness gone right, and long may it continue.

In reply to Indy:

Political correctness gone mad. Short hand for "I liked it in the old days, when women knew their place, the gays had enough shame and didn't come out in public, disabled people were hidden away in an institution somewhere so I didn't have to see them and the blacks knew they weren't as good as us, OK for cleaning and bus driving I suppose."

You should really get on with inventing that time machine, you'd love it in the 1950s.

In reply to Indy:



As would 90% of the sports bundled in the main event package. That's the one and possibly only good thing i see in the Olympics, that it gives exposure to minority sports never featuring on TV, and whose spectators at their World Championships are a no more than a mix of competitor's families and friends. It does a good job at making those competitors feel like superstars for a day which is well deserved, and that's a beautiful thing.

If i had my way there would be no paralympics, but their events would be run alongside the able bodies' events with the categories ranked alongside any other categories like, for example, weight categories in lifting/fighting. It'd be awesome to have things like the 100m wheelchair final scheduled right before the standard 100m final.

In reply to Mr Lopez:



There's enough of a global audience once every 4 years to make left field sports viable. Brazil bid $14.5 Billion after all.

Channel 4 paid £3.5 million for the rights to broadcast the Rio paralympics in the UK now compare that to the near £250 million the BBC paid for the same rights to the Rio Olympics. I seem to remember that channel 4 was repeatedly lambasted at London 2012 for the amount of adverts it was running during its broadcasts even to the point of cutting away from vital pieces of action. You can um and arh as much as you want but this is all about commercial decisions.

The reason that the paralytics aren't run alongside the olympics is purely the huge number of disability categories that need to be got through in the paralympics. To give you an idea of what your up against and allow all the lefty, politically correct Kumbya brigade to cream themselves....

"Track and field athletes who are intellectually disabled"
"Track and field athletes with short stature (dwarfism)"

In reply to digby:

Thats right blame the financially poor brazillian's who don't want to pay for rich westerners to massage there ego's by saying they've got a medal in Boccia.

The police and firefighters were recently protesting that they haven't been paid but of course screw them.

In reply to Indy:



I'm going to be kind and assume this was a typo, or autocorrect.

In reply to marsbar:

The latter.... bloody Steve Jobs

In reply to Indy:



Errr... It may be because i'm sober, but none of the above makes any sense at all, neither it offers any kind of logical rebuttal or reply to what i wrote above. Try again so we can catch up?


The Olympics run for 16 days, the paralympics for 14. The increased number of categories isn't a problem. If you can put down your pipe and copy of the Sun for a second and think a little before frothing, you'd have worked out that the problem is of logistics, with things like being able to host and house increased number of athletes and support teams within the park, equipment, etc.




You'll be surprised, but someone has already worked that out before you

https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/150915170806821_201...

In reply to Indy:


At London 2012 the Paralympic tickets were 99.9% sold - the first time it had ever happened. I was lucky enough to get 4 for the Olympic stadium with a sell out 90,000 crowd. Nobody forced us to buy them - we wanted to go. If you price and market it properly then the venues can be packed.

Flippin amazing evening - including seeing Oscar Pistorius break a world record.

In reply to Babika:

Flippin amazing evening - including seeing Oscar Pistorius break a world record.

Was that in the South African Biathlon, where you wake up suddenly and have to shoot an intruder through a closed door?

In reply to marsbar:

The paralytics...


Now that's definitely something I'd pay good money to watch!!

JW

In reply to John Ww:

That is one for this thread I feel. http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=648178

In reply to Indy:


Don't be ridiculous. Actually that's a vain hope.

In reply to marsbar:


No need to invent a time machine, one more Tory government will do it.