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by kurthr 2001 days ago
So all of the ticket proceeds go towards collecting fees and enforcing the ticket restrictions... so as to reduce public good.

Sounds a lot like charging for WiFi, which usually costs as much to administer and enforce as it collects.
3 comments
oh_sigh 2001 days ago
They charge a nominal fee so that there aren't a million people fighting over 100,00 spots stampeding each other.
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kurthr 2001 days ago
Ok, I'm going to just go with that idea. Let's create a public lottery for art, education, or lets say business funding. Since it's public funded of course it's worth more than the nominal fee (just there so proles don't fight over it) and we can hand out what... $100M (only 20x the fireworks) for a 100,000 people. That's $1000/person and only the scaled cost is only $200! If that's good, why not go bigger like $100B since it costs $10M to start a real business and hey, if you can't raise $2M for the ticket, what kind of entrepreneur are you?

So now we're distributing tickets from public funds worth 5x their purchase price only to the wealthy that can afford them? That sounds... fair? I mean proles get to work in the companies that are started so they benefit too (like watching the fireworks from behind the stands). Heck, even the "failed" entrepreneurs who just throw lavish parties and buy expensive cars support the economy! Life is good when you're born with privilege.

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Closi 2001 days ago
To be fair, they did this with Godiva festival in Coventry to good effect - It's a public music festival put on by the council, however every year there were issues with overcrowding and people queueing to get in after the venue reached its capacity.

They changed the model to ticketed entry at £3 per person (enough to pay for the full infrastructure for collecting and checking tickets but nowhere near enough to scratch a surface on the event costs) and it worked really well - no queues and really good value. The money wasn't a barrier to entry, but did put up enough of a barrier to entry to mean that people didn't register 'free' tickets and then not show.

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QuasiAlon 2001 days ago
making the public good a private good so they could raise the money for making the transition :)

but seriously, the reasons are legit.

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