A press conference was just held at Staples Center to announce specific details surrounding Michael Jackson’s memorial to be held this coming Tuesday.
The most important details were regarding the ticketing process for the event. Tim Leiweke, President of AEG, announced all of the details. He began by saying the Jackson family, AEG, and the City of Los Angeles are all working in conjunction to create a service and celebration that all of Michael’s fans can be a part of. He also noted that the Jackson family has put up the funds for a free pool feed on every network, which will broadcast the memorial live on TV. This is clearly to prevent fans from showing up to Staples Center on Tuesday.
Here are more details on the ticketing for Tuesday. Leiweke stressed several times that there will be absolutely no tickets sold, and that these are free tickets.
• Beginning right now, and ending tomorrow night 7/4 at 6PM, fans can log onto StaplesCenter.com to register to get tickets.
• 17,500 tickets are available for the event. 11000 of those are at Staples, and 6500 are at the Nokia Theater adjacent to Staples, where the event will be simulcast.
• After that 8750 names will randomly be drawn. Those people will be notified via email between the hours of 11AM-8PM via email. They will receive a code and sent to Ticketmaster.com
• From there they will receive information about a location to pick up their tickets and wristbands at Staples on Monday. The remaining 8750 tickets will go to family and friends of Michael.
• There will be no distribution of tickets at Staples or LA Live. There will be no outside broadcast around Staples or LA Live.
• There will be a worldwide pool on every major network fans are heavily encouraged to watch at home.
• There will be no funeral procession, and hard barricades will be put up by the LAPD surrounding the Staples Center on Tuesday.
Spokesman for the Jackson family Ken Sunshine added, “The Jackson family wishes to thank the city of Los Angeles…but especially the fans.” He said they want to accommodate as many fans as possible. He said, “It’s all about the fans.”
