The New York Times reports that 500,000 fans clogged the Staples Center website, vying for tickets in a Michael Jackson Memorial Lottery for the Tuesday memorial service. The Jackson family designated 11,000 of 17,500 seats in the arena to accommodate fans. Another 6,500 fans will view the memorial via satellite in the Nokia Theater next door. Services will be held July 7, 2009 at 10am PT.

The tickets are free, but it seems only fitting that King of Pop Michael Jackson be memorialized in concert fashion. Applications for the tickets area accepted through 6pm PT July 4^th. The venue will email the winners on Sunday. The winners will receive information later on how to obtain their passes and wristbands.

Los Angeles City officials are strongly urging fans to view the ceremony from home, and have taken strict measures to ensure that they’ll do just that. First, no TV or audio broadcast of the event will be made in the Staples Center Plaza. Second, police will barricade the streets a good distance from the event site, and will not let anyone enter who does not have permission to be in the area. Lastly, the family has made arrangements for fans across the globe to view the ceremony on television or the internet. The orator stated that the Jackson family has gone to great lengths to ensure that Michael Jackson’s fans can participate in the memorial in an orderly fashion.

In a press conference outside the arena, city officials said there will be no funeral precession. They declined to say whether Michael Jackson’s body will be brought to the arena, nor did they disclose how Michael Jackson will be honored at the Staples Center memorial service. Los Angeles police authorities stated that the police will secure the area as a matter of public safety, as they would do any other extraordinary event.

Though the state is deep in debt, it budgets every year for public protection when masses flock to the California streets. The city has considered asking for private donations to help offset other event expensive, such as sanitation. Gauging Jackson’s global appeal, they expect a large crowd to show up anyway, but they are hoping that people stay home to make the event manageable.

Plans for Michael Jackson’s burial and location were not disclosed. No information was revealed pertaining to any other memorials or funeral arrangements. Michael Jackson’s memorial and burial were supposedly set to take place at Neverland; however, state law prohibits burials outside of cemeteries, and the family was reportedly unable to obtain a residential exemption to hold a memorial there, as well.