"The price is set by our management, and we have thought about a half-price ticket for the elderly and students, but with such large numbers of them, we may not be able to cover the cost. So it hasn't been implemented," an employee from the ticket office said.

But the staff did not explain clearly who they meant by "management" and what they meant by "cover the cost"; who should set the ticket price is still under discussion.

In general, as public welfare projects, sports facilities in the past have often been financed and operated by government and the department in charge. In these cases, it is clear that ticket prices should be determined by the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission and Beijing Tourism Administration and other authorities, but the Bird's Nest situation seems to be more complicated.

Publicly available information indicates that Bird's Nest, as the largest stadium in history, initially adopted the "government guidance and market operation" model, taking into account the size of the investment and its high operating costs following the Games. A professional from the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee suggested that the "Nest" of the Olympic Games would hatch a "golden egg" of an industry.

As a result, a successful bidder for the National Stadium project's legal partner was finally determined after series of selection processes. At present, the "owner" is the National Stadium Co., Ltd., while CITIC Group was granted a 30-year chartered management right to the venue. During this period of time, the Beijing State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd who invested in the stadium on behalf of the Beijing municipal government will not receive any dividends but will recover the stadium in good condition after 30 years.

"In this case, the acting company will operate entirely according to the rules of the market; high entry fees are not surprising in order to recover the high cost of maintenance," an insider explained.

Although the operational nature of Bird's Nest is different from previous state-owned stadiums, it is difficult to clarify its status because of the various public interests involved.

The CITIC Group has a 30-year management right, so does it also have sole power to fix prices? Is the National Stadium an item of "public goods"? Is the pricing for Bird's Nest under government departmental control?

"Bird's Nest is not a public place like parks, but a commercial operation; we are responsible for maintenance and operations, including fixing prices," a lady from the operational headquarters of the CITIC Group said. "As far as the price is concerned, we consulted the Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration, and fixed it based on a variety of considerations," the lady explained.

"We did have contact with the CITIC Group around the National Day and gave guidance and help on its work over invoices. However, we do not have any kind of managerial relationship with them," an employee from Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration confirmed.

A person in charge of price management from the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission told the Legal Daily: "The ticket price is fixed independently and is not within the scope of governmental influence, so we cannot give the elderly and students a discount."

According to existing regulations, the government's pricing department is in charge of prices for parks, museums, heritage and natural scenic spots which are not funded by commerce. Insiders also pointed out that although they had no idea about the contents of the contract, the CITIC Group has the right to set prices as well as the right to determine "whether to offer a discount or not".

However, Dai Xuefeng, deputy director of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believed that as a national stadium, Bird's Nest has been seen as a "public good". Whether the operating company should listen to public opinions when fixing prices needs to be reconsidered.

(China.org.cn by Jessica Zhang, November 12, 2008)