Yes rent a fan, to fill those empty seats that you may find yourself with for those less profile matches, that is what you may have to do. South Africa will not be the first to do this. In the recently concluded Olympic Games in China it happened. For some games the organisers found themselves with empty sits and to avert an embarrassment to the great spectacle these games were, volunteers were bussed in. These volunteers were instructed to cheer all teams competing and stand up and leave if paid up fans showed up.

There a lot of conspiring factors that may lead to empty stadiums in the Confederations Cup.

o The world economy is in doldrums. Many football tourists will be forced to keep away.

o New Zealand has only 4 million people and a net recipient of immigrants. It is therefore difficult to find New Zealand citizens in South Africa.

o New Zealand is a rugby and cricket nation. Football though loved, comes a distant third.

o Iraq on the other hand loves football but the country is knee deep in problems that to expect her citizens to show up in numbers in South Africa is to believe in miracles.

o The onus falls on South Africans to fill these stadiums. But, whoever knows South African football knows that on many an occasion their own national team has played before empty stadiums. To expect them to easily fill the stadium when New Zealand is playing Iraq is to be very optimistic.

o It will be extremely cold, it will be winter.

The easiest option out of an empty stadium scenario is to rent a fan the Beijing way. Rent a fan worked and saved Beijing the embarrassment Athens was when only two thirds of the available tickets were sold and many seats went empty.

The more difficult option will be to go in an all out marketing and selling blitz not for the Confederations Cup as a whole but for those less profile games. These are some of the tactics that may help you fill a stadium for these matches:

o Go to schools and get children interested. Let them know the available tickets. If you make an impression on the children you get to the parents. The parents will oblige and buy the tickets.

o Get sponsors for giveaways. Promote the availability of this gift in all your promotions. Acknowledge the sponsor at the stadium.

o Go on all out drive to sell these tickets directly to companies and organizations. Promise them acknowledgment and deliver on that promise.

o Promote the Confederations Cup as an experience of a lifetime. With the World Cup (the host of the World Cup hosts the Confederations Cup) going back to the traditional system of the best prepared country hosting it, we may never see the opportunity of both tournaments on this continent in our life time ever again.

o Ease the system in place to purchase these less than attractive games. Communicate with all those that miss out high profile game tickets the opportunity to purchase the available tickets and still partake in this great spectacle.

o Create a spectacle to remember. It should not be soccer only, entertain in other ways. Let people get photo opportunities with players. Communicate this before hand.

o Appeal to community minorities, by for example attracting their singing artists to the game.

o Enlist local football teams and the rugby union to help, by reaching out to their fans on a one-to-one basis.

o Do everything that you think about! In marketing some things work many do not. The people decide what touches them and react positively.

There will be rush for high profile games. But it will take a bit of effort for those less profile ones. And marketing never works however clever it is, until people can establish what is in it for them.