By Alan King
AFRO Staff Writer
Michael Jackson's funeral will be hosted at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Courtesy Photo)
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(July 4, 2009) - Organizers of Michael Jackson's memorial service will decide who will get free tickets to the event through a random name-drawing.
The service will take place Tuesday morning in the Staples Center, the 20,000-seat arena in downtown Los Angeles where Jackson rehearsed his show the night before he died.
Details were released at a press conference Friday.
Tim Leiweke, head of AEG, the company that had been producing Jackson's comeback concert "This Is It," said 11,000 of those tickets will be for the actual memorial in Staples Center, and 6,500 will be seats at the Nokia Theater across the street where fans can watch a live feed, which will also be open to all broadcast and cable networks.
Organizers will draw 8,750 names, and those people will receive two tickets each and wristbands on Monday. No tickets will be sold at the event, organizers said.
Anyone wishing to enter the drawing can register online at www.staplescenter.com/memorial.
City Councilwoman Jan Perry suggested fans to stay home and watch the event on television.
"I want to stress to people who are thinking about coming, you might want to consider watching this from the comfort of your home," she said at the news conference.
Those whose names are drawn will be notified between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Sunday and given the location where they should pick up their tickets Monday.