1.5 million Olympics tickets on sale in new lottery round for 2024

PARIS, France (AP):

The second round of ticket sales for next year’s Paris Olympics started yesterday with only the lucky winners of a lottery being able to buy about 1.5 million seats for the most prestigious competitions as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Paris Games, which run from July 26-August 11, 2024, will feature 32 sports across 37 sites.

HOW IT WORKS

Four million people applied for the online lottery, organisers said. Winners in the random draw have a 48-hour time slot to make their choice on a single online platform open to all fans worldwide. They receive an email two days beforehand and can buy up to 30 tickets per person – but no more than six per event, limited to four for the most popular finals and the opening and closing ceremonies.

Michael Aloïsio, the deputy general manager of the Paris Olympics, said the system is made so that winners can easily buy seats for family and friends.

Tickets in many sports – especially the cheapest ones – are expected to sell out quickly.

“We put on sale the most emblematic tickets of the games,” Aloïsio said, adding that Olympic fans who accessed the platform on Thursday “are over the moon”.

“But those who will be drawn in the next few days will obviously have much less choice,” he said.

CHEAP TICKETS

Tickets are available in several categories according to price range. About 10 per cent have been set to the lowest price of 24 euros (US$26). The same proportion is above 200 euros (US$218), Aloïsio said.

Top prices include prestigious athletics, swimming, and basketball finals.

Tickets for the women’s 100 metres final on August 3 are 690 euros (US$752) for the best seats. For the men’s 100m final the next day, it’s 980 euros (US$1,069).

“The whole challenge of ticketing is to be able to balance our budget without losing price affordability,” Aloïsio said.

Ticket sales represent about a third of the budget for the Paris Olympics, which is estimated at 4.4 billion euros (US$4.8 billion).

NEXT PHASE

It is too late to apply for the draw, but there will be further ticket opportunities at the end of the year, organisers said. The exact date has not yet been set.

In addition, an official ticket re-sale platform will open next spring.

Tickets for the Paralympics go online on October 4 but not in a lottery, with about three million tickets expected to be sold. Those games will take place from August. 28-September 8.