The Wireless Festival remembers Michael Jackson

The draw for tickets for the Michael Jackson memorial service has taken place. More than 1.6 million fans registered for the service and the lucky ones were told their applications had been successful via email overnight. A spokesman for the Staples Centre said 8,750 names were chosen in the draw, with each person receiving two tickets. The odds of getting a ticket were about 1 in 183. The tickets will admit 11,000 people to the Staples Centre, with 6,500 seats in the Nokia Theatre overflow section next door. Before the ticket draw, officials of AEG, the owner and operator of the Staples Centre "scrubbed" the entries to eliminate duplicates and any suspected of being made by automated systems, Jackson family spokesman Ken Sunshine said. Winners will receive a unique code and instructions on how to pick up their tickets at an off-site distribution centre. A wristband will be placed on winners' wrists and both that and the ticket will be needed for entry. Jackson's friend Jesse Jackson said fans should "take the time to mourn" and added: "There is so much grief and hurt." No details were given about the actual memorial events. The ceremony will not be shown on the arena's giant outdoor TV screen and there will be no funeral procession through the city. Police and city officials in Los Angeles warned all those without tickets to stay away from the Staples Centre and said as many as 700,000 people may try to reach the arena. Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Jackson's family was planning a "private family function" at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. No further details were available. Urging fans without tickets to stay away, he told reporters: "We looked at other funerals around the world and different numbers that have come out for that. "We've heard that for Elvis Presley's funeral there were about 75,000 for that, for Princess Diana there were about 250,000, so you can estimate that Michael Jackson with his popularity around the world, there will be significant numbers that intend to come out. "Whether they hopefully will take that advice that this is not the best place to be unless you have a ticket, we'll have to wait and see." Jackson, who died on June 25 after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest, had been due to perform 50 concerts at London's O2 Arena starting later this month.

» More on this story... «

ITN | July 6, 2009

Tags:. .funerals. .lucky. .via. .registered. .section