Sponsors And Broadcasters Have Access To 10% Of Total 8.8 Million Olympic Tickets

Sponsors of the '12 London Games "have been told they must make extra effort to ensure all their guests use their Olympic tickets, so the Games stadiums are as full as possible," according to Jacquelin Magnay of the London TELEGRAPH. LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton said, "We will talk to sponsors, they have a stake in this too, and there is a reputational risk. We are saying, 'Make sure your guests take up the seats, you do have a responsibility to work hard to make sure your guest sits in that seat.'" Sponsors, "combined with broadcasters, have access to 10 per cent of the total 8.8 million Olympic tickets available." LOCOG has budgeted to raise US$786M from the Olympic and Paralympic tickets, a "huge chunk" of its US$3.3B operating budget. Deighton is "upbeat about the budget overall and said another key element -- the marketing budget of [US$943M-1.1B] -- was on track." Deighton: "I expect we will reach [US$1.1B] at the end of March 2011." Meanwhile, the Olympic Delivery Authority said that it will "shortly reveal a shortlist of candidates interested in long-term investment in the athletes' village" (London TELEGRAPH, 12/15).