Nearly one million tickets for the London Olympics “will go on sale this Friday, with 20,000 ‘lucky losers’ who were unsuccessful in both previous ballots to be given first priority,” according to Tom Peck of the London INDEPENDENT. The batch of tickets “will include around 5,000 for the most sought-after event" -- the men's 100m track final. Applicants who had no luck in the first ballot last June “will be first in line during an exclusive 31-hour sales window, which opens at 11am” local time. Fans can buy “a maximum of four tickets to a single event before the process is opened up on Sunday to the remaining 1.2 million people who were unsuccessful in the initial ballot.” LOCOG officials “have also confirmed that they will sell at least 70,000 ground passes to the Olympic Park so that those without tickets can come into the park, soak up the atmosphere and watch the action on giant screens.” These tickets will cost US$16 for adults or US$8 for concessions. Peck notes there “are still 1.4 million tickets” left for the soccer matches (London INDEPENDENT, 5/9). In London, Ashling O’Connor notes after the exclusive access period closes, other fans who missed the first ballot will have “five days to buy tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.” O’Conner notes there are “tickets available to all events, including the opening and closing ceremonies and sold-out sports such as athletics, swimming, diving and equestrianism.” The extra tickets “were sourced from a contingency pot released once organisers had established finer details of venue planning, such as camera positions.” LOCOG confirmed that “infants under 12 months would be allowed to accompany their parent if secured in a papoose or sling” (LONDON TIMES, 5/9).
FOR THEIR OWN GOOD: Also in London, Jacquelin Magnay reports British Cycling President Brian Cookson “expressed his disappointment at the new announcement of charges, and said one of the key attractions of road cycling was its free access for spectators.” He claimed that LOCOG “was trying to recover some costs of providing facilities.” Cookson said, “There is a cost in managing the venue and LOCOG is recovering that cost and keeping it to a minimum, but we would prefer it was free.” Magnay notes Olympic officials have “staggered the release of the tickets on Friday to try to circumvent the anger that accompanied the earlier ticket ballots where two in three applicants failed to secure any.” But if all of the eligible applicants apply for tickets, “at least three-quarters of them, or close to a million applicants, will be left disappointed” (London INDEPENDENT, 5/9).
