After unveiling in December, with a lot of visuals, an unprecedented opening ceremony entirely on the Seine, the invoice for which has not yet been posted, the organizing committee (Cojo) will present Monday price elements of tickets and schedule at its board meeting.
We already know that more than 13 million tickets will be available for sale in 2023 in total for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Of course, the pandemic scenario is still brewing, after two Olympic editions behind closed doors, in Tokyo and Beijing.
A year ago, the boss of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet, told parliamentarians that the committee was working on several models for this reason.
This is the smooth scenario that will be presented on Monday, with an expected fill rate of 85% for the Olympics.
And it's not all settled yet.
Budget of 4 billion
The budget of the Cojo, which now stands at nearly 4 billion euros (3.980 billion, according to the latest figures communicated in February), is based on income from sponsorship, those from ticketing - for a third - and a contribution of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
On the sponsor side, the round table -1.1 billion euros- has not yet been completed, and the objective has been set to collect 80% of the funds by the end of the year.
The inter-ministerial delegate to the Olympics, Michel Cadot, recently gave a thumbs up to the Cojo: "
in terms of progress in terms of respecting the schedule (...) as well as in terms of the budget, the files are very well controlled
", he explained to the Assembly before the working group on the Olympics.
After the December 2020 revision, which resulted in 300 million savings, expenditure and revenue will once again be scrutinized.
The next budget revision is indeed scheduled for the end of 2022.
The executive asked the organizers to seize its audit committee so that it reviews the budget by the summer.
Especially since the Cojo could see its forecasts hit by the inflationary context or by possible economic consequences linked to the war in Ukraine.
Alongside these budgetary issues, the organizers are managing other issues, such as the torch relay.
More than ten departments have publicly refused the entry ticket to 150,000 euros excluding taxes for the passage of the flame, judging it prohibitive.
The Cojo insists on the fact that it does not earn any money from the operation and that it bears part of it.
Not all departments have responded yet.
Basketball not happy
And some test sites are also talking about them.
After the shooting site at La Courneuve, on track to stay there, it is now the site of the basketball qualifying events, one of the halls of the Parc des Expos at Porte de Versailles, which is causing a lot of ink to flow, especially on Twitter.
"
How can we accept to see basketball, the most popular sport at the Olympics, being sent to the exhibition center?
“, protested last week Evan Fournier, Olympic vice-champion with the France team in Tokyo.
"
Certainly these are probably not the standards of an NBA hall, but it is also what we like at the Olympic Games, to have a + horizontality + between all the sports
", replied the five-time Olympic biathlon champion, now a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Martin Fourcade.
For its part, the Cojo explains that meetings are underway with the international basketball federation to find "
technical solutions
" for the layout of the room.
But all this did not appease the basketball player who tried to train handball, who will play in Lille, in his fight: “
Seriously, I am a handball player, I am told that I will live the Olympic Games @Paris2024 in Lille.
I FALL A LEAD.
It's a shame.
Don't let yourself go.
How many gold medals did you bring back to France?
What a lack of respect
”.