UP TO 100,000 people registered for tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games yesterday. The tickets will be allocated next year by lottery, though prices have still to be set.
The number of tickets available to the public for the games has been increased by 300,000 to eight million, the organising committee announced as the new website, www.tickets.london2012.com, was launched.
Before being awarded the Olympics, the London organisers promised that some tickets would be available at £30, or less, though there have been signals since that they believe this figure is now too low.
British-based fans will enter the tickets lottery under the same terms as those from other European Union countries since EU law bans members hosting major sporting events from discriminating against EU states.
Saying that the organisers had to abide by EU law, London Olympics chief executive Paul Deighton said he was “pretty confident” that the majority of those registering on the website would be British-based. People from elsewhere in the EU were more likely to apply for tickets through their national Olympic committees, he said.
“In the highly unlikely circumstance that we are deluged with international applications into the UK ballot, we will look at the situation and speak to the International Olympics Committee and see what steps we can take.
“But this is a hypothetical risk and is unlikely to happen. We would be very, very surprised if we need to do that. We are only marketing to the UK,” he said.
In a bid to curb opportunities available to touts, three-quarters of the tickets will be distributed by a lottery when they finally go on sale in the spring of next year, Mr Deighton said at an event in Trafalgar Square yesterday.
The remaining tickets will be reserved for VIPs, sponsors, athletes’ friends and family and the media. Tickets will not go on sale until organisers have gauged the demand for each of the 26 sports.
“Ticket sales make up a significant part of our income, but at the same time we are completely committed to ensuring our events are accessible, that tickets are affordable and that our venues are packed to the rafters with sports fans,” he said.
Just 4 per cent of all tickets will be sold by two hospitality companies contracted by the London organising committee. Three hundred thousand extra tickets for the Olympics have been made available following a redesign of the Olympic village site in east London. The Beijing Olympics were marred to an extent by low attendances at lower-profile events, though in many cases the events had been sold out but ticket-holders did not turn up.
