VANOC Receives More Than C$345M In Ticket Requests For Games

Fans have submitted more than C$345M in ticket requests for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, about four and a half times the value of Phase 1 ticket requests than the US$75M in requests for the first phase of ticketing for the '02 Salt Lake City Games, the most recent Olympics held in North America. As of last Friday, the final day of the Request Period of Phase 1, an estimated 120 of 170 ticketed sessions were oversubscribed due to demand exceeding availability (VANOC). VANOC Exec VP/Revenue, Marketing & Communications Dave Cobb: "The system was stretched with the amount of activity, but it held up extremely well." Cobb said that there were "very few suspicious ticket orders" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 11/14). The GLOBE & MAIL's Rod Mickleburgh reports tickets for the oversold events "will now be allocated by lottery." Despite ticket prices ranging from C$350 to C$775, the men's gold-medal hockey game drew "more than 140,000 requests" for an "estimated 4,000 tickets expected to be available to the public." The women's gold-medal hockey game drew "more than 41,000" ticket requests, and other events that "attracted huge orders" included the Opening Ceremony, short-track speed skating, half-pipe snowboarding, figure skating and the curling finals. VANOC CEO John Furlong said of the demand, "It's beyond anything ever seen in an Olympics before. We had no idea when we started how people would react, but last week was just about the most stunning week you can imagine." Meanwhile, Furlong has "called on local businesses to buy into the Olympics by lending top staff to VANOC in the months leading up to the Games." Furlong added that, during the event itself, businesses can "help by cutting working hours, giving employees time off or mandated vacations to serve as volunteers, and perhaps even closing down completely" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/14). In Vancouver, Jeff Lee reports ticket hopefuls "will find out by Dec. 5 which tickets they were successful in winning" (VANCOUVER SUN, 11/14).