Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games » tickets

Round Two of Ticket Sales

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:12:01 +0000

Lotteries expected as Olympic ticket deadline approaches

Time is nearly up for Canadians to get their orders in for the first round of ticket sales for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

The deadline for residents of Canada to place their orders is midnight PT on Friday.

Caley Denton, vice-president of ticketing with the Vancouver Organizing Committee, said demand is already exceeding official sales targets and there’s no doubt they’ll need to hold a lottery for medal round hockey events.

Denton is also expecting demand will exceed supply in many other high-profile events, including figure skating and the opening and closing ceremonies. Officials have not been specific about which event tickets beyond hockey will be distributed by lottery.

You can read the rest of the article here.

The first round of ticketing ends tonight at midnight (PST). People are allowed to make multiple ticket requests, so if they don’t get their first request, they are not completely left out in the cold. After the deadline has passed, a computerized lottery will start picking who gets what seat. Lotteries will definitely be held for the Gold Medal Hockey event, and probably for other hockey events, figure skating, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Tickets can be purchased at Vancouver 2010 ticketing information.

Petro-Canada keeping families together for 2010 Olympics

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:45:31 +0000

Program to unite athletes with their families at 2010

Cost of families to see Games covered by Petro-Canada

Johanne and Jean-Pierre Monette of Montreal have never seen their speed-skating sons Marc-Andre and Jean-Francois compete at any major competition.
They weren’t there when Jean-Francois skated in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, or when their sons traveled to Europe for short-track speed skating championships.
Instead, they put all their money into making sure the two boys could compete, knowing that they could always watch them on television or see a video later.
“When we are not there with them, it is always heartbreaking, but they do call home,” Johanne Monette said.
All of that will change for the Monettes and the immediate families of all Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes who compete at the 2010 Games.

Read the rest of the article here.

This program will cost $3 million for Petro-Canada, but I think it’s a great move. Petro-Canada is one of the corporate sponsors of the Vancouver Games, so the company will be receiving free tickets anyway. They will simply pass on these tickets to the family members of the Olympic athletes. Meals and 4 days in a Vancouver hotel will be provided for two family members of each Canadian athlete.

Tickets for Vancouver Olympics available soon

admin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:36:05 +0000

Reseller market not cowed by 2010 organizers plans to crack down on scalpers

VANCOUVER – People who fail to nab any of the scarce tickets that will be available for the 2010 Olympic Games shouldn’t worry, says a leading Vancouver ticket broker.

He’ll have them for sale – and soon. Despite Vancouver Games organizers’ repeated claim that they’ll police tickets sold outside authorized channels, going so far as invalidating them, the resale market will not be cowed, said Mario Livich of ShowTime tickets.

“We’ll be very active in selling thousands of tickets for the 2010 Games,” he said.

“It’s a legal business, the buying and selling of tickets, and it’s a much-valued service in the marketplace.”

Tickets for the Vancouver Olympics go on sale Oct. 3 through an application system that will allow people just over a month to decide how many and which tickets they’d like to buy for the Games.

For those events where demand exceeds supply tickets will be sold via a lottery system.

While tickets for single events will be for sale, organizers are also promoting 58 different “Olympic experience” packages which combine multiple events at prices ranging from $140 to $1,267.

Package orders will be filled before individual events, so organizers say the best shot at some of the most popular and expensive seats will be to buy packages.

The lowest price for a single sporting event ticket is $25, while the highest is $775 for a gold-medal hockey ticket. That’s not including surcharges or the cost of transportation, numbers that won’t be available until closer to Oct. 3.

Over a million Olympic tickets will be available to the masses, but organizers have admitted that at events like gold-medal hockey, the vast majority of seats are being sold to “Olympic family” members, including sponsors and officials. The number of tickets that will be allotted to the public for each event has not been released.

Read the rest of the article here.

I don’t think you could ever do anything to stop tickets from being sold in a secondary market. As long as there are people willing to sell them and people willing to buy them, there will always be ticket scalpers. If the tickets go on sale on October 3, I wonder how long it will take before we start seeing the tickets for re-sale on ebay and craigslist.