Faced with a wave of criticism on prices deemed too high, the boss of the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics, Tony Estanguet, again defended Tuesday his ticketing model, evoking a "success" with already 6.8 million tickets sold out of the 10 million available.
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- Five things to know about ticketing for the 2024 Olympics
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Fourteen months before the Games, 6.8 million tickets have already been sold. This shows a very strong enthusiasm. It is an important success in terms of sales, which exceeds our objectives, "assured the boss of the Cojo at a press briefing.
Nearly "5.2 million" tickets were sold out of the 8 million available to the general public on the two phases of sale, the second of which has just closed, he said. After selling 3.25 million tickets in the first phase of sales by packs, "1.89 million" were sold individually, explained Tony Estanguet.
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Still three million tickets to sell "this summer"
To reach the figure of 6.8 million, it is necessary to add 1.6 million tickets sold on the 2 million reserved for the communities, the State and the 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 envisaged "this summer", said Tony Estanguet.
Our commitment to Games open to as many people as possible is kept
Tony Estanguet
Asked about the wave of protests that accompanied the first two phases of sale, and the questioning of the idea of "popular" Games, the three-time Olympic canoe champion said he "assumed" the "tariff strategy".
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Too much demand
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The accessibility of Popular Games is reflected in the volume and prices of tickets. 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, "he replied, acknowledging the "frustration" of buyers with a million places sold in 36 hours during the 2nd phase.
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This 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 beginning that we could not meet the demand that is much greater than the available supply."
Ticket revenues are expected to bring in nearly €1.4 billion out of the organising committee's overall budget of €4.4 billion.
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