The sudden withdrawal of Lance Armstrong from Friday evening's One Zero event in Dublin has robbed the sport and tech conference of its headline act although refunds are not being made available to ticket holders.
The disgraced American cyclist, stripped of his seven Tour de France wins in 2012, was scheduled to be the final keynote speaker at the day-long event at the RDS, only to confirm his withdrawal late on Thursday evening citing legal reasons.
Touted as a “fireside” chat with Armstrong, with “all the cards on the table”, the RDS event was limited to a capacity 1,000 and was certainly not cheap: €175 for general admission, €475 for premium seating, and €775 for the VIP package.
Armstrong had been contracted to speak at the event since August, but according to statement from the event organisers, cancelled on “the advice of his legal team” due to the upcoming “Federal court case brought against him on behalf of the US Postal Service.”
The matter of a potential refund was then addressed by a spokesperson for the event: “Tickets were sold on the basis on it being a sports and tech conference, with over 30 speakers, not just on the back of Lance Armstrong,” according to the spokesperson.
Clearly unhappy with Armstrong’s late withdrawal, the organisers also claimed: “One Zero event organisers had been acutely aware of the pending Federal legal case, addressing the issue during initial negotiations with Armstrong some months back. Organisers were assured it would not be an issue before agreeing to Armstrong’s participation at the conference.”
The organisers were in frequent communication with Armstrong’s team throughout yesterday, only for Armstrong’s agent Mark Higgins to eventually confirm he would not be attending.
“We are extremely disappointed that Armstrong has withdrawn at the last minute from appearing at One Zero,” said co-founder of One Zero, Rob Hartnett. “He has let us down, he has let his fans down and his has let down those that wanted to hear him openly discuss his past and the future of sport”.
Another co-founder of the event, Richard Barrett, added: "We are obviously disappointed that Armstrong has cancelled less than 24 hours before the conference, however, he is just one of the 34 world class speakers we have lined up to appear tomorrow from the world of sport and technology. Sir Clive Woodward, Shane Lowry, Jamie Fuller and John Kavanagh are just some of the key notes that will feature alongside many other global industry experts who will share their insights into the future of sport."
Armstrong has spoken previously about the $100m lawsuit, filed by former team-mate Floyd Landis, on the defrauding of the US Postal Service. Armstrong has admitted he’ll be “out on the street” if US District Judge Christopher Cooper rules against him.
The event sponsors included Failte Ireland and Independent Newspapers.
