OLYMPIC TICKET APPLICATIONS

OLYMPIC TICKET APPLICATIONS HIT THE ROOF

Olympic ticket sales have ‘hit the roof’ according to London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe. The Holiday weekend saw a ‘massive surge’ in ticket applications. However he is keen to state that those applying for tickets on the last day of sale have as much chance of securing seats as those applying now as oversubscribed events will be decided by a random ballot.

With only around 50% of the tickets for major events being allocated to sponsors Lord Coe has suggested that people apply for ‘less obvious events’ if they want an Olympic experience. Prices range from £20 to £2,012, which is the top price for the opening ceremony. All successful applicants will be notified by 24th June.

Lord Coe said, 'Overall, 75% of the tickets there are for public application. That's the rough split. But... for some of the bigger events, that will come down... Let's be clear about what we mean by corporate, because actually, probably only about eight or 9% of that is corporate. The rest of that are Olympic family, international federations, and of course our sponsors do pay, in large part, for the staging of the Games... It's very, very difficult to say but that [tickets available for big events] could drop to about 50%.' He also added, 'It's like the purchase of anything. Make sure that you have the budget available up until 24 June. Don't go for so many tickets that you may be left with something you can't afford.'

People will be limited to 20 events each and for the most popular events there is a limit of four tickets per person.

London 2012 CEO, Paul Deighton told the press, 'Every day is different, but also in the last week we have been getting three or four times the applications above and beyond what was coming in for the previous five weeks - and the sky's the limit based on the pattern that I am seeing at the moment.' He also said that orders had been 'pretty well-spread... I think that a lot of people are ordering quite a number of tickets. Families seem to be ordering so they can go together.'

The 2012 Olympics need to raise 25% of its revenue from ticket sales.

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