Faced with a wave of criticism over prices deemed too high, the boss of the Paris Olympics organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, again defended his ticketing model on Tuesday, citing a “success” with already 6.8 million tickets sold out of the 10 million available.
“Fourteen months before the Games, we have already sold 6.8 million tickets. This shows a very strong enthusiasm. It is a major success in terms of sales, which exceeds our objectives, ”assured the boss of the Cojo during a press briefing.
Nearly “5.2 million” tickets have been sold out of the 8 million available to the general public over the two sales phases, the second of which has just ended, he said. After selling 3.25 million tickets during the first phase of sales by packs, “1.89 million” were sold individually, explained Tony Estanguet.
To reach the figure of 6.8 million, we must add 1.6 million tickets sold out of the 2 million reserved for communities, the State and officials, said the boss of the Cojo.
There are therefore nearly 2.8 million tickets left for the general public, sesames that sports fans may be able to try to obtain during a new phase of sales planned “this summer”, said Tony Estanguet.
Asked about the wave of protests that accompanied the first two sales phases, and about the questioning of the idea of ”popular” Games, the three-time Olympic canoe champion said he “assumed” the “tariff strategy”.
“The accessibility of Popular Games is reflected in volume and ticket prices. We consider that with four million tickets at 50 euros and less, one million at 24 euros but also free events (…) our commitment to Games open to the greatest number (…) is kept”, a- he replied, acknowledging the “frustration” of buyers with one million places sold in 36 hours during the 2nd phase.
“Which means that 3 million people (there were 4 million registered for the draw, editor’s note) no longer had the visibility of these places since they were exhausted”, he added. “We knew from the start that we could not meet the demand which is much greater than the available supply”.
Ticketing revenue should bring in nearly 1.4 billion euros out of an overall budget of 4.4 billion euros for the organizing committee.
