VANOC Unveils Further Details Of 2010 Games Ticketing Plans
VANOC officials released "further details [yesterday] of their ambitious Olympic ticketing program," set to begin October 3, according to Rod Mickleburgh of the GLOBE & MAIL. Ticket buyers will have from October 3 until November 7 to sign up for Olympic event tickets, which range in price from C$25 for biathlon and cross-country skiing to $1,100 for "the best seats" at the Opening Ceremony. When demand "for specific events exceeds supply, a virtual certainty for the gold-medal men's hockey final, lotteries will be held." For the men's Gold Medal hockey game, 5,000 seats, or "fewer than 30[%] of the 17,000 or so tickets available," will be allocated to the public. VANOC Exec VP/Revenue, Marketing & Communications Dave Cobb said that the "nearly 30[%] share is three times larger than the 10[%] available to the public" for the men's hockey final at the '02 Salt Lake City Games. Overall, VANOC "is committed to providing 70[%] of the estimated 1.6 million tickets ... to the general public." Also, a "first for the 2010 Olympics is the selling of tickets for nightly victory ceremonies, as VANOC calls the medal presentations." There will be 30,000 total tickets available each night "for medal presentation ceremonies at B.C. Place." Two-thirds of the tickets "will be sold at [C]$22 for each ceremony, while another 10,000 admissions per night will be without charge." Mickleburgh notes at past Winter Games, medal ceremony admissions "have been free," but VANOC "is aiming to make each night a special, highly produced spectacle that will include Canadian music and other entertainment" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/10). VANOC VP/Ticketing Caley Denton: "We want to get as many people downtown celebrating the Games as we can each night." In Vancouver, Katie Mercer reports the 10,000 free tickets for the medal ceremonies and subsequent concerts "will be distributed through a system that VANOC will unveil in 2009" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 9/10).
TICKETS TO THE WORLD: Cobb added that "one challenge...was balancing all the Olympic-family requests for tickets, which in some cases exceeded the capacity of venues where events will be held." In Vancouver, Derrick Penner notes VANOC "could have filled GM Place twice over with Olympic-family members." VANOC's allocations to the Olympic-family members, which includes "almost 200 constituent groups, are with the [IOC] for final approval," which Cobb "is confident VANOC will receive." Cobb said that the IOC "has approved VANOC's global allocation of 30[%] of all tickets to the Olympic family" (VANCOUVER SUN, 9/10).
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