Michael Jackson memorial service to be free

The memorial is to start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the venue which can accommodate around 20,000 people. The Staples Center is also the home of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

The centre is owned by AEG Live, the group which was promoting Jackson's final "This Is It" comeback tour which was scheduled to take place in London at the O2.

Although the time and date of the event has been confirmed there are still unsolved issues about how the city will cope with the likely influx of mourners attending the event.

The chief executive of AEG Live, Randy Phillips, said that tickets for the service would be free but conceded said it was not confirmed how they would be distributed given the massive demand expected, reports AP.

Dennis Zine, a Los Angeles City Councilman, spoke of the huge logistical challenges posed by the memorial, "If you can imagine 100,000 people show up and you have 20,000 capacity, there is not sufficient room. Now you have a crowd-control problem."

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Zine added that the timing made it even harder to deal with as the service would be held just after the holiday weekend celebrating American Independence on 4th July. He said it was "the worst time ... to work something out."

The service could also have significant costs for the city of Los Angeles in terms of paying for police overtime.

A private memorial for the family and friends of Michael Jackson will also be held and there are plans to hold further public memorials across the USA, according to Jackson's brother Jermaine who was speaking on Larry King Live.