(ATR) The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) faces the possibility that it will be paying ticket distributors THG until 2026 without receiving anything in return.
Former OCI president Pat Hickey brokered an agreement with the company that makes THG the official OCI ticket agent for the next five Olympics, beginning with the PyeongChang Winter Games this February.
The problem is that PyeongChang has already decided not to allow THG to sell tickets for Ireland after the company was alleged to have been involved with the attempted resale of tickets at the Rio Olympics last year.
Whether future Games organizers will allow THG back into the fold remains a doubt, given the issues from Rio and earlier problems at the 2014 World Cup, which caused Rio 2016 organizers to drop the company as an authorized ticket reseller in the first place. Requests for comment form the IOC were not returned.
Hickey’s replacement as OCI president, Sarah Keane, confirmed the deal to the Irish Times, saying "This obviously presents the council quite a challenge going forward."
Keane added that the OCI wants to cut ties with THG but calls the deal "pretty watertight".
A large section of an Irish government report, released on Monday, is spent outlining the relationship between Hickey, THG head Marcus Evans, and Pro10. It aims to establish a timeline for why THG was rejected as an authorized ticket reseller for Rio 2016 and how Pro10 was quickly established to fill that void. The report did not determine how THG executive Kevin Mallon acquired a number of tickets allocated to the OCI before his arrest in Rio.
The report concluded that the relationships "seem to show more concern for the commercial interests of the [reseller] than for the interests of the athletes, their friends, relatives and supporters or for those of the spectating public." It added that Hickey "went to great lengths" to keep THG as a reseller for the OCI after Rio 2016 rejected the company’s application. Questions about the reallocation of tickets between the OCI and Pro10, Pro10’s relationship with THG, and the final financials from Rio tickets are left unanswered.
Written by Gerard Farekand Aaron Bauer
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