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.

Leave a comment if you have a favorite Opening Ceremony moment. Remember when Muhammad Ali lit the cauldron at the 1996 Opening Ceremony in Atlanta?

Or in the 1992 Barcelona Games when Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the cauldron by shooting a burning arrow towards the cauldron?

Or in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games when the USA Hockey team from 1980 lit the torch together?

I can’t wait to see what they do in Vancouver.