Demand strong in first day of Phase 2 of ticket sales for Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Jun 6, 2009
All gold-medal ice hockey inventory sold; ice hockey, curling and victory ceremonies still available
Vancouver, BC –It took mere minutes for Canadians dreaming of attending the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to purchase the more than 1,000 tickets to the men’s gold-medal hockey game made available this morning, reported the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).
Demand remained strong throughout the first part of the day, as Canadians submitted orders from every province and territory for their dream Olympic tickets in record numbers, with more than 22,000 orders for 130,000 tickets processed in the first four hours. Gold-medal hockey tickets to the men’s competition, along with Opening Ceremony tickets, speed skating and figure skating were among the first tickets to be purchased this morning. However great tickets to preliminary ice hockey, curling and victory ceremonies are still available along with limited inventory for other sports. Customers are also now able to gain immediate access to the purchasing site, as organizers were able to turn off the virtual waiting room by 12:30 today.
“We anticipated demand would be high for tickets, and the level of interest we saw today was very exciting and, once again, a testament to the pride and support Canadians continue to show in being part of Canada’s Games in 2010,” said Caley Denton, VANOC vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing. “Thanks to the incredible work by our partner tickets.com, our system performed as planned on the technical side. After 10 am today, our
www.vancouver2010.com website experienced traffic of more than 1,300 hits per second and by noon had set a record for page views at more than 5 million.” Added Denton “The virtual waiting room system worked well and helped manage traffic demand on our site effectively while keeping the process fair for consumers.”
VANOC is also continuing to develop an authorized ticket resale program, for launch later this year, where ticket buyers will be able to offer their tickets for sale to other Games enthusiasts — who will be able to buy such tickets with confidence knowing they are legitimate.
VANOC will also launch a third, smaller phase of ticket sales this fall.
Ticket sales to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, temporarily unavailable for purchase during Phase 2 of Olympic ticket sales, will be reopened in the coming days to the Canadian public at
www.vancouver2010.com.
Once again, the Organizing Committee is cautioning those who missed out on tickets in Phase 2 to be wary of tickets offered for sale through unofficial channels. The only official sources for Canadians to purchase tickets to the 2010 Winter Games are
www.vancouver2010.com and official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners Jet Set Sports and CoSport.
Background
Phase 1 of Olympic ticket sales took place in late 2008 when the Canadian public was invited to submit requests for tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Within a month, Canadian residents had submitted requests for more than $345 million in tickets. This overwhelming response was 4.5 times greater than the first phase of ticketing sales for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games ($75 million over nine weeks), the most recent Olympic Games held in North America. As a result, approximately 120 of 170 ticketed sessions for the 2010 Winter Games were allocated by lottery.
On December 12, 2008, remaining tickets from this first-phase allotment were re-released for sale exclusively to ticket buyers who had participated in the initial ticket-request period; the remaining inventory was sold that day. The VANOC business plan, update on January 30, 2009, projects revenues from all ticket sales to be $260 million.
On June 3, 2009, four of the first Olympic ticket designs were unveiled. An image of Steve Yzerman, Hockey Canada’s executive director for the Vancouver 2010 men’s ice hockey team, is available via Canada Newswire at
www.newswire.ca.
Last month, VANOC opened the sale of tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Strong demand saw all available inventory of gold-medal ice sledge hockey game tickets sold on the first day.
About VANOC
VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit
www.vancouver2010.com.
Contact
If you are a member of the media, please contact
[email protected]
For all other inquiries, please contact
[email protected]
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Well, I'm happy I got a variety of exhibition games... no playoffs, or Canada, but... I think Russia will win the Gold, anyways!
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