No refund after Lance Armstrong no-show (tickets cost up to €953)

Those who forked out up to €775 - that's €953 including VAT - will not be getting a refunded after Lance Armstrong pulled out of his Dublin appearance less than 24 hours before the event scheduled for tomorrow evening.

There will be no refunds for tomorrow night’s scheduled One Zero Conference which was supposed to have Lance Armstrong as a keynote speaker.

The news was confirmed on tonight’s Off The Ball show on the Newstalk radio station, which had interviewed the disgraced American earlier this month.

Billed as a “fireside” chat with Armstrong, with “all the cards on the table”, the RDS-scheduled event was limited to a capacity 1,000 with general admission €175, premium seating €475, and a hefty €775 for the VIP package.

When VAT of 23% is included, the VIP tickets cost €953.

The matter of a potential refund was addressed by co-founder of the event Richard Barrett who said there was far more to the event than one speaker, even if it was somebody like Armstrong.

“Tickets were sold on the basis on it being a sports and tech conference, with over 30 speakers, not just on the back of Lance Armstrong.”

Barrett said it was disrespectful to the other speakers to even suggest there should be refunds.

“There are no refunds,” confirmed Barrett. “This conference is bigger than Lance, we’ve been entirely transparent from the start, some of the partners have not been.

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT

“This is about One Zero, this is about us preparing for the biggest sporting line-up in Ireland.”

Gilroy said he was impressed by the soundbytes coming his way.

But when he interrupted Barrett and suggested “Lance is the draw”, Barrett retorted: “I think that’s disrespectful to JK (Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh - Ed), I think it’s disrespectful to Jamie Fuller…”

That interview is available here: