THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — High-demand events at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be pricey but Vancouver officials said Thursday their goal is to ensure people in all income brackets can enjoy at least some Olympic activities.
Pricing for the tickets to the Games was released Thursday, with the lowest-priced tickets at $25 and the highest $775 for a seat at the men’s gold medal hockey game.
Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies will range from $175 to $1,100.
The first phase of tickets will go on sale on Oct. 11, 2008.
"It’s about much more than the ticket — it’s the entire Olympic experience that will likely not come our way in Canada for many years to come," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of the organizing committee known as VANOC.
"It’s about standing shoulder to shoulder and singing O Canada with fellow Canadians you have never met but with whom you are family for one incredible day."
Though each of the events have tickets available at two or more different prices, officials said they won’t know until the venue layouts are finalized how many seats are actually available at each price point.
The committee said the ticket prices for the opening and closing ceremonies are lower than they were for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and for the last Winter Games in Turin.
Prices were set by examining tickets sold for those Games and also by looking at what it costs to attend other major events in Vancouver like hockey games and concerts.
But while a high-priced men’s hockey ticket at the Olympics is $775, the most expensive ticket to a Vancouver Canucks game this season is $240.
A choice spot for the 2007 Stanley Cup finals in California cost as much as US$903.
Tickets are also priced lower than Games officials had expected they’d need to charge to make their budget of receiving $232 million from ticket sales, officials with the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, said.
Domestic sponsorship has brought in more money than expected, allowing officials to charge lower prices for more events than they’d anticipated.
"The tickets for our Games are going to be in very high demand, both internationally and right across the country," Dave Cobb, vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications, told a news conference.
"We wanted to give people as much time as possible to plan for their Olympic experience."
Of the 1.6 million tickets that will be for sale, half will be priced at less than $100 and 100,000 will be available for $25.
But that doesn’t mean high-demand events will have tickets at those prices. The $25 tickets are available for biathlon, cross-country skiing and some early rounds of women’s hockey only.
"Our view is that the experience at every venue will be a riveting one," said Furlong.
"What we wanted Canadians to be able to do is say `I was there, I was part of it."’
Last month, concerns surfaced that ticket resellers and scalpers would snap up tickets, but VANOC officials said Thursday they’re exploring ways to prevent that from happening.
Actual tickets won’t be delivered until late in 2009 to prevent counterfeiting and applications to buy tickets will be limited to one per person, with an allocation of tickets potentially being limited to only two or four per application.
But VANOC is also keenly aware of troubles other Olympic Games had with filling the seats at the venues, even though the majority of tickets had been sold.
They’re hoping to launch a ticket reselling service, similar to those offered by NHL teams, that would allow people who can’t use their tickets to resell them — at face value — to potential buyers.
The same attention will be paid to the 50,000 tickets that will be given away through charities and not-for-profit organizations.
The NDP’s Olympics critic, Harry Bains, said even with lower-priced events and free tickets, the cost of going to events will shut out many British Columbians.
"When it comes to paying for these Games, at a cost of $2.7 billion, all of British Columbia is asked to pay that price and share that cost," he said.
"But when it comes to enjoying the part that they are paying for, a very few select can go and enjoy these Games and enjoy the party."
Sales will be in three phases leading up to the start of the Games in February 2010. People interested in buying tickets will have to submit an application and then will be notified if they were successful.
In the event of demand outpacing supply, lotteries will be held to determine who gets the seats.
At the end of each phase, organizers will review the number of tickets sold and still available and then offer remaining seats for sale again.
Seventy per cent of the available tickets will be for the public, including sports fans from around the world.
About 30 per cent of the tickets will be reserved for key partners who participate directly in the staging of the Games, but they will have to purchase those tickets at the same prices as members of the public..
.Those outside of Canada will have to buy their tickets through their national Olympic committees or authorized resellers.
Each country will be allocated a set number of tickets based on attendance at previous Games, and any tickets that remain unsold in foreign markets will be put up for sale in Canada, VANOC said.
.For the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, there are more than seven million tickets available.
Tickets for the opening ceremonies there range from US$26 to US$650, but are already selling online at several times their face value.
The 2010 Winter Games will be held in Vancouver and Whistler from Feb. 12 to 28, 2010, while the Paralympic Games will run from March 12, to 21, 2010.