Journalists Worried about Tournament Access

The Sports Journalists' Association have voiced their concerns about access to the Euro 2008 games.

Their view is that because the matches were oversubscribed and the stadia are smaller in Austria and Switzerland that a significant number of journalists won't be able to view the games.

During the 2006 World Cup many journalists reported on the matches from the media centre and it appears the Euro 2008 organisers wanted to avoid the situation this time around. They commented:

In seeking to avert a recurrence, the 2008 organisers plan to trim accreditation permits closer to the perceived demand for media tribune tickets. Figures are not yet available but - while this will, hopefully, mean fewer “media tourists” - tournament access for non-European written media will be extremely limited.

There is a positive note, however. The organisers are making sure that bother wireless and cable internet access will be provided for free and will not have any systems blocked from accessing the internet. During the last World Cup, they report, because Detsche Telecom had a monopoly, users of other systems could not connect.