Nearly two million people have applied for free tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service being held in Los Angeles at the Staples Centre on Tuesday, but only a lucky 8,750 have been chosen in the random draw.
The city will scramble to prepare for the coming crowds as winners will be picking up their tickets at the city's Dodgers stadium on Monday. Each selected person gets a pair of tickets, making the approximate total number of attendees to be 17,000.
Eleven thousand people will be admitted into the Staples Centre, and 6,500 people will be in the Nokia Theatre next door.
Earlier on Monday, the very coveted tickets were being sold on EBay, some for thousands of dollars, and one for as high as $20,000.
However, later in the day, EBay took down the auctions for all Jackson memorial tickets, likely due to pubic pressure about the ethical consequences of selling tickets to a memorial service.
Matt Blank, spokesperson for the British-based fan club, The Michael Jackson World Network, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel that fans are hugely disappointed in the way the free tickets were distributed.
"It's not surprising that a lot of people who got tickets don't have any intention of going. They're selling their tickets on the Internet to the huge dismay of the fans," said Blank.
Blank also criticized the organizers for being too last minute.
"If this was planned a few days in advance, fans from all over the world could have attended," said Blank.
Reporting from Los Angeles, CTV's Lisa LaFlamme said that police are preparing for up to a million people in crowds around the Staples Centre.
"Barricades have been put up and police will be closing off a large perimeter around the centre so as to avoid large crowds," LaFlamme told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel.
Ticket holders get a wristband and organizers will check IDs to make sure those picking up wristbands are the same people who originally applied online, said Staples Centre spokesperson Michael Roth.
Organizers were considering how to distribute any unclaimed seats, but had not immediately decided on a plan, Roth said.
The memorial service is being produced by Grammy producer Ken Erlic, whose company is owned by AEG Live. Jennifer Hudson has been confirmed as a guest entertainer, and other entertainers could include Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey.
The memorial service will be broadcast live on five television networks, but not on the giant outdoor TV screen near the Staple Centre because police do not want to attract crowds.
- CTV.ca will offer a live stream of Tuesday's memorial service from the Staples Center
Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell warned the ticketless to stay away. He would not say how many police would be on the job, but alluded to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the recent championship celebration for the Los Angeles Lakers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
"You'll be standing in the hot sun on a city street with a lot of other people," he said. "But not within eyeshot of Staples."
Meanwhile, court proceedings continued on Monday in the Jackson trial.
A judge ruled Monday that Michael Jackson's longtime attorney and a family friend should take over the pop singer's estate for now, rejecting a request from Jackson's mother to be put in charge. Katherine Jackson has been in charge of the estate and Jackson's three children for the week.
Ann Shatilla of the radio show, Hollywood Trend, told Canada AM Monday that L.A. authorities are investigating the welfare of Jackson's three children.
"They are going to be asked about the children's life with their father -- if they were exposed to drug use, how they are being cared for at the family compound right now by the Jackson family," said Shatilla.
As for the role that drugs may have played in Jackson's death, Shatilla said propofol, a powerful sedative, was found inside Jackson's home
Other drugs found inside the home were Demerol and oxycontin.
The lawyer for Jackson's at-home doctor, Conrad Murray, said that Murray never gave Jackson Demerol or oxycontin the day Jackson died, according to the entertainment news website TMZ.
However, TMZ also reported that when Murray's lawyer was asked whether Murray gave Jackson propofol, the lawyer would not comment.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the authorities are investigating at least five doctors whose names were found on prescription bottles in Jackson's home.
Jackson's family is planning a private funeral at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, but no further information is available at the time.
With files from Associated Press
