'There’s still a lot': Trump struggling to sell tickets for his upcoming rallies

According to a report from Politico's Daniel Lippman, tickets for former president Donald Trump's planned big area tour in the winter with ex-Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly are not in high demand, with arena officials say lots of tickets remain unsold as the dates approach.

With great fanfare the ex-president announced the tour that includes stops in Trump-friendly cities such as Orlando, Dallas and Houston -- but the response for tickets that go up as high as $8,500 for a "Meet and Greet" with Trump and the former broadcaster have been tepid at best.

According to the report, as concert halls and arenas reopen after the COVID shutdown, tickets for popular acts are selling out in days. Not so, for Trump who has been holding smaller -- and free -- rallies over the past two months.

"In Orlando, where the duo is hosting an event at the 20,000-capacity Amway Center on Dec. 12, a box office employee for the arena said, 'There's still a lot of tickets open.' The person, who like others for this story insisted on anonymity to share confidential sales data, added: 'We have concerts that are doing a lot better than this.' A Bad Bunny concert being held next March recently sold out within two days, for example, and the majority of seats for a Dec. 3 Kane Brown concert have been sold already," the report states before adding that employees at the other venues are admitting that lots of tickets remain unsold.

"For Trump's Houston event with O'Reilly at the 19,000-seat Toyota Center, home to the NBA's Houston Rockets, 60 to 65 percent of seats remain unsold, an employee with access to ticket sales information estimated. And in Sunrise, Florida, a box office employee at the BB&T Center said that they would have expected sales for the Trump-O'Reilly event there to have been 'definitely higher' by now," the report states.

"It hasn't been [selling] like crazy," the employee added before pointing out that shows featuring comedian Katt Williams and Joe Rogan are selling "significantly" better than the Trump rally.

As Lippman notes, "For Trump, who is famously crowd-obsessed, lagging ticket sales numbers complicate the image he promotes of himself as a top draw. The tour represents a chance to speak to devoted fans, many of whom still consider him to be the legitimate president. It also provides him an opportunity to earn money and lay more groundwork for a potential 2024 bid."

Asked for comment Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington issued a statement that read: "The History Tour has already sold over $5 million of tickets, and the excitement and enthusiasm is unlike anything we've seen before. Come December, the sold out shows will be a memorable night for all."

You can read more here.