Getting tickets..

[Moti Dichne]

General ticket sales for the Kyushu Tournament (opening November 8 at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center) begin at 10:00 a.m. on the 19th. Given the current surge in the popularity of Ozumo, tickets are expected to sell out on the very first day. The streak of "full house " (sold-out) days, which began on Day 6 of the 2023 New Year Tournament, remains unbroken. Fans are concerned not only about the difficulty of obtaining tickets but also about the rampant practice of high-priced reselling. The Kyokai has devised numerous measures to prevent reselling. It has disclosed that during last year's six tournaments, a total of 138 penalties were imposed on purchasers—ranging from the suspension of ticket site and fan club memberships to the invalidation of tickets and denial of entry. Cases of spectators being turned away at the gate for attempting to enter with resold tickets have occurred during the current tournament as well. The Kyokai strictly prohibits not only the reselling of tickets but also the purchase of resold tickets, urging fans instead to use the official resale service that operates at face value. Regarding electronic tickets using QR codes, entry via simple screenshots of the screen is prohibited. Starting this tournament, the system was modified to display a countdown in seconds rather than minutes; this allows gate officials to visually distinguish screenshots from live ticket displays more easily. Changes to the ticket sales process for Kyokai members—including rikishi—will also take effect starting with next January's New Year Tournament. Previously, rikishi and other members could request necessary tickets for family and others using application forms. One sekitori remarked, "In the past, I could buy all the tickets I requested, but lately, I can only get about half." Due to the increase in requests made through Kyokai members, not all demands can be met. Starting with the upcoming New Year Tournament, applications for tamari seats for which inventory has become scarce, will no longer be accepted. While sekitori previously applied individually, the process is shifting to bulk applications by heya, encompassing everyone from lower-ranked rikishi to support staff; this change also aims to reduce the administrative burden caused by the high volume of requests. Limits have also been set on the number of tickets: each heya is capped at four masu seats and 15 chair seats per day. It was also announced that ticket sales would close once the allotted number of tickets had been sold out. Hamakaze Oyakata (ex- Gojourou), who is in charge of ticketing, stated, "We will ensure that tickets are readily available to fan club members and sponsors. We will handle the allocation of tickets per heyae flexibly as the situation requires." [Ichiro Sasaki]