Every year, with the anticipation and excitement of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, we get stories of tickets being sold out before they even get to the fans.

On Saturday, we saw yet another story of lines being formed hours before the ticket offices were set to open for business. There are usually a few confrontations as tempers flare, some of which escalate into fights and angry fans venting, mostly at ISSA, and the “unfair system” that denies them tickets.

There was an accusation this year that tickets were being sold to those in the Diaspora, “taking them out of the hands of the local fans” who may think they have more rights to the scarce Champs tickets than those living overseas.

From a journalistic viewpoint, is this even a story worth writing about?

If nothing has changed since last year: the stadium is still woefully inadequate to accommodate all who want to see the greatest high school track meet in the world live, and with sponsors claiming huge chunks of tickets, is it realistic to expect that more tickets will be on the market for the fans?

But Jamaicans are a funny people, Champs is five days and only one day — Saturday — comes close to being sold out. Tuesday, with almost six hours of competition and, at times, upsets, is free entry but few bother to show up.

Wednesday and Thursday, with about 20 finals combined including Boys’ Class One long jump and several throwing finals, cost only $500 for adults and again, there are plenty empty seats available.

Friday, with the blue ribbon 100m semi-finals and finals, cost $2,500 but is never sold out, and there are always lots of great seats available.

Come late June, we have an even better show of athletics at the stadium, the JAAA National Senior Championships, and anyone can walk up to the ticket office on any day and get good seats.

At Senior Trials we get to see some of the best sprinters in the world, and other athletes who could compete for most other countries in the world, and once again great seats are available.

But everyone wants a Saturday grandstand ticket and not just any ticket either, but prime finish line seats at that. Mention tickets for the bleachers and some people shudder and cringe as if they are being asked to put life and limb at risk.

The math however suggests that the best bet is a seat in front of your television, praying that your supply of electricity will not be interrupted.

The 50-odd-year-old National Stadium, which was built to host the 1966 Commonwealth Games, has not been expanded beyond the estimated 35,000 capacity since, and with the grandstand only able to accommodate maybe 5,000, the chances of getting tickets for Saturday are not that good.

No matter what system is used someone will not get a ticket and will cry foul.

The biggest injustice, however, are the empty seats we see on Saturdays at Champs every year; seats to which tickets were allocated to sponsors and given to employees or customers who just could not bother to use them, for whatever reasons.

Unless the Government finds about US$50 million to build a modern and much larger stadium, chances are, for the next 10 years or longer, as long as we continue to produce the quality athletes we do now, and Champs is still the spectacular show it has become, we are going to be having this same conversation every year.