(ATR) Toronto 2015 CEO Saäd Rafi says the first day of Pan Am competition fueled the sale of 20,000 more tickets.
He says this more than doubles the average ticket sales of 9,000 that organizers have seen on a daily basis leading up to the games. Rafi tells reporters this brings the total ticket sales above 850,000 out of a possible 1.2 million.
Although ticket sales are picking up, many venues have noticeably empty stands for many of the preliminary games in football, rugby sevens and baseball. Rafi says these prelims in big stadiums that hold 20,000 or more people are not easy to fill every day.
"It’s more about the loud cheers for the athletes instead of having full stands. That’s what’s important in these games," Rafi says.
Rafi notes that although many prelims aren’t sold out, the matches that Canada participates in are very full and very loud.
This was evident at Sunday morning’s rugby sevens preliminary match between Canada and Chile. The stadium was not sold out, yet the fans roared and filled the stadium with thunderous applause every time Canada made an attempt at a try.
The fans seemed to will the host country to victory after falling behind to an early deficit to Chile, as Canada scored at the very end of the second half to tie the score, causing the first overtime of the Pan Ams. Canada went on to win in sudden death to another roar of applause from the crowd.
After the match, many spectators left the stadium as Uruguay and Brazil took the field, and the decrease in crowd noise was evident. Spectators offered little applause during the match and cheered more when fans caught rogue rugby balls entering the stands.
Enthusiastic crowds returned to the stadium when the Canadian women took the field against the United States later in the afternoon. Both teams were undefeated in the competition. thus far.
The U.S. and Canada men’s teams will also face off Sunday afternoon in the semi-final match of the tournament.
Reported and written by Kevin Nutleyin Toronto.
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