Fans must register at staplescenter.com to get free tickets to late pop star Michael Jackson's public memorial service at downtown Los Angeles' Staples Center, Organizers said on Friday.
There will be a total of 11,000 tickets for the 20,000-seat Staples Center and another 6,500 tickets for an overflow crowd at the nearby Nokia Theater, where the event will be simulcast on large video screens, said AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke.
Fans have until 6 p.m. Saturday to register at the website, and a computer program will randomly select 8,750 names to receive two tickets for one venue or the other, Leiweke told a press conference.
AEG, which owns Staples Center, is organizing the public memorial service for Jackson, who died last week at a Los Angeles hospital.
Organizers also said there will be no funeral procession as had been rumored, and provided no details on the family's plans for a private service for the pop star.
The area around Staples Center and Nokia Theater will be blocked off by police for the event, and there will be no outside broadcast in or around Staples Center, they said.
The Staples Center event is being offered free to television networks, so people who do not get tickets could watch the service from television at their homes, said Los Angeles city councilwoman Jan Perry, who is acting mayor while Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is on vacation in South Africa.
Jackson was pronounced dead on June 25 at the UCLA Medical Center, soon after he was found in full cardiac arrest at his rented home, where he was preparing for 50 sold-out concerts in London promoted by AEG.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2009)
