Ticketing Report Attempts to Untangle Irish Ticketing Irregularities

(ATR) A state-commissioned report on the ticketing practices of the Olympic Council of Ireland ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics raises concerns, but says no laws were broken.

The full report from Judge Carroll Moran into the OCI’s ticket practices was released in full to the public todayand can be found here. The report raised a number of issues related to the OCI’s authorized ticket reseller for the Rio Olympics as well as the governance structure of the OCI under previous president Pat Hickey.

However, the report recommended against forming a commission to address the issues raised due to substantial changes at the OCI, and the potential cost to the Irish taxpayer. The report noted that a number of participants including Hickey, the IOC, and THG declined to participate due to ongoing legal proceedings in Brazil. Rio 2016 was also contacted by Moran but did not respond to repeated inquiries.

A Rio 2016 spokesperson said it was still looking into Around the Rings’ requests for comment by press time.

Hickey, in a statement, said he was "pleased to see my reputation and good name have been cleared" by the report. However, he said that the entire endeavor was "ill-conceived" given his inability to respond to questions from investigations.

"The report contains significant flaws and inaccurate assumptions," Hickey said in a statement. "Because of the ongoing trial in Brazil now is not the time to address these serious inaccuracies, in time I propose on the proclamation of my innocence to address all issues. Regrettably the Moran Inquiry has failed to include the full suite of correspondence between my solicitors and the Moran Inquiry that addressed all of the issues in dispute."

Hickey also maintained his innocence for all charges brought against him in Brazil, and says he looks forward to "resuming my international Olympic duties". He was arrested during the 2016 Olympics and charged with ticket touting, forming a cartel, and illegally marketing the Rio Olympics. He faces up to seven years in prison.

A large section of the report 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.

Regarding the OCI governance structure, the Moran report noted the opaque executive style of Hickey. Numerous OCI officials recalled having no conversation regarding the ticket reseller situation, and minutes from some meetings were never produced. The report calls the structure a "unilateral presidential decision-making [rather] than as the collegiate process." The report agreed with the conclusions of a governance audit conducted by Deloitte in September 2016.

The report noted that reform efforts under new OCI President Sarah Keane were underway. These reforms were part of the reason that Moran’s report did not call for a commission to further look at the OCI. The other reason included was a substantial cost that would be paid for by Irish taxpayers.

Rio de Janeiro prosecutor Marcos Kac told ATR he expected to read the report later today, and refrained from comment until doing so.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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