By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
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Update
Tony Estanguet, with the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castera. GEOFFROY VAN DER HELT / AFP
Tony Estanguet announces a “success” during the first phases of ticket sales for the Paris 2024 Games. Nearly three million tickets will still be on sale this summer, recalls the boss of the Cojo, who insists on a demand much higher than the ‘offer.
Faced with a wave of criticism over prices deemed too high, the boss of the Paris Olympics organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, again defended his ticketing model on Tuesday, citing a “hit» with already 6.8 million tickets sold out of the 10 million available.
“Fourteen months before the Games, we have already sold 6.8 million tickets. This shows a very strong enthusiasm. This is a significant success in terms of sales, which exceeds our objectives“ured the boss of the Cojo during a press briefing.
Next to “5.2 millionTickets have been sold out of the 8 million available to the general public in the two sales phases, the second of which has just ended, he said. After selling 3.25 million tickets during the first phase of sales by packs, “1.89 million” were sold individually, explained Tony Estanguet.
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Another three million tickets for sale “this summer”
To reach the figure of 6.8 million, we must add 1.6 million tickets sold out of the 2 million reserved for communities, the State and 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 the greatest number is kept
Tony Estanguet
Asked about the wave of protests that accompanied the first two sales phases, and about the questioning of the idea of Games “popular“, the three-time Olympic canoe champion said”to ume” the acepricing strategy“.
Too much demand
“The accessibility of popular games is reflected in volume and ticket prices. 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» buyers with one million places sold in 36 hours during the 2nd phase.
“Which 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 sold out“, he added. “We knew from the start that we could not meet the demand which is much greater than the available supply.“.
Ticketing revenue should bring in nearly 1.4 billion euros out of an overall budget of 4.4 billion euros for the organizing committee.
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