Ticket packages fail to materialize

 LONDON (AP) -- About 2,500 business people have been left without tickets for Sunday's World Cup final in Paris after the collapse of a company selling corporate hospitality packages for up to 2,299 pounds each ($5,500 Cdn).
 Liquidators of International Championship Management, based in London, have notified several companies -- including IBM, DHL and Amstrad -- that their tickets could not be delivered.
 The firms paid an estimated three million pounds ($7.2 million) for the ticket packages, which included catering, transport and five-star hotel accomodation.
 ICM, whose clients include more than 230 companies across Europe, collapsed last month.
 The liquidators said ICM never had the tickets for the games and was relying on two licensed ticket brokers to supply them. But the tickets never came through.
 One of the licensed brokers which failed to deliver the tickets was Great Portland Entertainment, a London firm which was closed last month after failing to produce 25,000 tickets worth nearly 2.5 million ($6 million).
 In other ticket news, FIFA's marketing consultant said today it would take control of a French subsidiary involved in a World Cup ticket scandal.
 ISL Worldwide will buy out the remaining 51 per cent of ISL Marketing France and assume day-to-day management of the Paris-based company, according to Glen Kirton, senior vice-president of the international firm.
 Kirton said the action was a direct response to the scandal, in which three people, including the president of ISL France, were arrested in connection with alleged ticket fraud. The World Cup organizing committee also has filed a formal complaint with prosecutors against the French branch of the Swiss-based company that has handled international marketing for FIFA since 1982.
 Taking direct control of ISL France was the fastest way to limit damage to the international firm's reputation and make sure that both companies shared more than just a name, Kirton said.
 ISL is one of the pioneers of international sports marketing with a reputation for high-quality programs. It just signed a new contract to continue as FIFA's marketing pipeline through the 2006 World Cup, and will take over new responsibilities and powers, such as television production and Internet services.
 The case involving ISL France was one of a number of ticket scandals to hit the tournament and perhaps the most embarrassing to FIFA because of the ties with the international company.
 ISL Worldwide never has been linked to any of the ticket problems and has repeatedly stressed that it was not involved in ticket distribution except for the 180,000 tickets that went to FIFA's 12 worldwide sponsors as part of their contracts.