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T&T's Jack Warner In Latest FIFA Ticketing Monopoly Allegations With Exclusive Ticket Deals Meaning Price HikesSubmitted by Scott Harkness on Tue, 17/01/2006 - 17:16.
It has emerged that one of FIFA’s senior executives could be making profits of more than £10m from World Cup ticket sales in the latest scandal to rock the echelons of the world governing body of football. According to reports, a travel agency allegedly owned by FIFA vice-president Mr. Jack Warner, who is also the president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Federation (CONCACAF), and a special adviser to the Trinidad & Tobago football team, has cornered all the available tickets allotted to Trinidad & Tobago’s football federation for the showpiece event. The tiny two-island Caribbean nation, who qualified for the 2006 World Cup Finals for the very first time, and have been placed in Group B along with England, Paraguay and Sweden, are the unfortunate spectators in this latest of FIFA debacles. It has now emerged that Mr Warner’s company, Simpaul Travel Service, has clinched an exclusive deal with the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation to sell all their tickets for the World Cup finals in Germany - which his company is allegedly selling at premium rates, along with mandatory travel packages. This means that Mr. Warner’s “travel Agency” does packages that include tickets and accommodation but, strangely, not the air-travel, either to Germany, or other travel arrangements between the different venues. The Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation has apparently still not revealed how many tickets have been allotted to them by FIFA, although it was confirmed that Mr. Warner has paid the federation $500,000 to secure the rights to be its official travel agent. According to some estimates, Mr. Warner’s company, Simpaul, stands to make around £1,660 profit per package. The company will not confirm how many tickets it has, but local estimates suggest between 6,500 and 8,000 per game. It has been estimated that Simpaul could make between £10.8m and £13.3m profit if it sells every ticket as part of a package. While the development raises questions regarding ethics and conflict of interest, Mr Warner has on the contrary argued that since he has “given selflessly for the cause of football” no one should “attempt to impute improper business practices and conflicts of interest to me.” A FIFA spokesman has since said that they had no knowledge of Mr. Warner’s travel company interests. But it is not the first time that Mr. Warner has been involved in dubious business practices. When the FIFA World Youth Cup was held in Trinidad & Tobago in 2001, Mr. Warner’s companies were similarly alleged to have controlled exclusive contracts to supply air tickets to all competing foreign teams as well as all catering and IT deals for all the stadiums staging the event. There have been allegations during the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan, that football officials of certain countries, whose federations were allotted tickets for the event, made a fortune selling the tickets on the black market. One FIFA official is said to have pocketed a cool $250,000 from the sale of tickets for the final between Brazil and Germany in Yokohama, Japan, which Brazil won 2-0 to lift the World Cup trophy. Other countries that have qualified for the World Cup have more transparent ways of offering tickets to their football fans. For example, the Football Federation of Australia, which qualified for the finals for the first time in 32 years, informed its fans that it had 8,500 tickets for its opening three group matches before putting them up for sale in late December 2005. in favorites | email this page
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