Logistics for Tuesday's Michael Jackson Memorial Service Published, but Uncertain

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Street closures for the Michael Jackson memorial service at Staples Center will begin at midnight tonight, but what exactly will be the case Tuesday morning is still unclear.

Much will depend on how many people ignore the city's requests and make their way to South Park to line up against the barricades that will seal off the L.A. Live area.

While various media outlets have tried to gauge potential turnout via hotel bookings or airline tickets, no one really knows what kind of crowd will form outside the LAPD barricades. Estimates have ranged up to 700,000, though that seems unlikely.

Those that do show up without tickets to get inside will see nothing except LAPD officers. The television broadcast will not be on display outside the arena.

At midnight, the primary street closures around Staples Center will begin. Figueroa, Flower and Cherry streets will be closed between Pico and Olympic. Chick Hearn Court will remain closed.

Pico and Olympic are both shown on DOT's Traffic Management Plan as remaining open, though their fate rests on the turnout of people making their way to the area. Various intersections in the region are shown as conditional or "To Be Determined" closures.

Should DOT's on-site Incident Commander decide to do so, Pico could be closed, along with Figueroa and Flower south to Venice.

A multitude of Metro buses will be diverted around the area. Metro plans to continue Blue Line service through the closure, but that could be disrupted by a large crowd.

Participants in the 10am memorial service include Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Magic Johnson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, Usher and Stevie Wonder. 16,500 free tickets were distributed to the public via a lottery that attracted 1.6 million entries.