1. it's a very common practice to distribute free tickets to sponsors, it's part of the deal. It's like I contribute $10000 in goodwill, for free, and you give me 10 tickets, worth $100 each to show appreciation. Fair enough?

2. it's very common for people to buy/acquire/be given tickets and not show up. These people might be morons by not showing up, but I don't see a lot of foul-play here.

3. some "cold door" events WILL have empty seats even if the tickets are available for sale, or even when they are given out for free. I personally, just personally, is not interested in women's snatch or men's beach volleyball.

4. you can only infinately approach a 100% occupancy, but you'll never reach that. It's mathematically impossible, even for events like Superbowl.

5. "yellow bulls(or cows)" might have contributed to the empty seats, but these animals are global, they are not like pandas which only exist in China.