Applicable grade: Advanced Chinese (Senior Grade)
With Singapore implementing a lottery system to replace the “hand-scratch” booking of public badminton stadiums, many badminton enthusiasts still have difficulty booking venues, so they turn to badminton activities organized by third-party groups. However, the high fees and opaque operations of these activities have caused a lot of controversy.
Badminton enthusiast Ms. Yang often joins a badminton group organized by a third-party group because she is unable to book a venue with her friends. However, she found that the group charges up to 8 yuan to 10 yuan per person, which is obviously higher than the price of about 5 yuan per person after booking the venue and sharing the fee. She believes that it is wrong to use public facilities to make profits.
Other badminton enthusiasts also pointed out that in order to pursue profits, some groups not only charge high fees, but also arrange multiple people to share the same venue, or use low-quality badminton to reduce costs, which seriously affects the sports experience.
22-year-old student Raphael once encountered a situation where seven people were arranged at a venue, which made him very dissatisfied. Badminton enthusiasts generally believe that when participating in such activities, priority should be given to the number of people in the venue, the details of the charges, and the badminton brand used to ensure the experience.
Mr. Wang, 27, felt that such behavior was like “concert scalpers” and called on the government to strengthen supervision: “Even if these badminton groups claim to pay the cost, it is still a profit-making act.”
The Singapore Sports Council (SportSG) said in response to inquiries that monitoring measures for venue booking and use have been strengthened. For users who violate the rules, the measures taken by the authorities include suspending or terminating their accounts. Authorities have also added on-site inspections to ensure that the booker himself appears at the venue.
The badminton group responding to media inquiries said that their fees include venue fees, badminton costs, and the costs of organizing activities. Licya Hu, the organizer of the badminton group, revealed that her badminton club holds five to six events a week, with a charge of RMB 7.90 per person during off-peak hours and RMB 9.90 during peak hours. She said that despite the small profit, the surplus is usually used to host competitions or team up to play badminton in Malaysia.
Licya suggests that the Singapore Sports Council can use volunteers or develop a system to host badminton events to provide badminton enthusiasts with a more transparent and high-quality sports experience. Another badminton group leader said that this is an open market that is “will to buy and sell”. If you are unwilling to pay a high price, then you should find a more suitable option on your own.
（Rewrited from November 23, 2024 News:Singapore’s public badminton stadium is still difficult to book, and may “scalper phenomenon” may occur）
Question 1:Why are the activities costs of third-party badminton groups controversial?
Question 2:Compared with “hand-sharing speed”, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the lottery system? Please analyze it in combination with the article.
Question 3:Is it appropriate to compare a third-party badminton event to “concert scalper tickets”? Why?
Question 4:Please design a new distribution system for the Singapore Sports Council to solve the allocation problem of public badminton stadiums.
