2010 Ticket Information

[mr.x]

Buy a ticket bundle for best chance of Vancouver 2010 tickets: Vanoc

Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The public's best chance to get tickets to premier 2010 Olympic events will be by purchasing bundled ticket packages that Olympic organizers are putting together, officials have revealed.

Vancouver Olympic organizers will open sales for the biggest block of tickets available to the public starting Oct. 3, and have begun a three-week campaign to unveil the information would-be buyers need to try to gain access to the high-demand sports.

There won't be a rush because tickets will not be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Games organizers will take applications for tickets from Oct. 3 to Nov. 7; no matter when they arrive, all applications will receive equal consideration.

Purchasers will also need to pull out their Visa cards. Although Vanoc won't charge their cards right away, a credit card number will be needed to secure a purchase order. Visa will be the only one accepted, since the company is a top Winter Games sponsor.

However, there will also be a method to buy tickets using a cheque or money order.

Priority for filling public ticket orders, however, will go to those who want to buy what Vanoc officials are calling Olympic experience packages: multi-day packages that bundle at least one event ticket per day, plus one ticket to one of the nightly victory ceremonies at BC Place Stadium, where the majority of medals will be presented.

"[Package purchasers] will be seated before [individual ticket purchasers] at an event," said Caley Denton, vice-president of ticketing and consumer marketing for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games [Vanoc].

"Having said that, we will never sell out the full public allocation [of tickets] through packages," Denton added.

The packages will be designed much like cable television bundles, but Dave Cobb, Vanoc's executive-vice president for revenue and marketing, denied the exercise is about offloading tickets to less desirable sports along with seats to marquee events.

"It isn't about filling weak events," Cobb said, because Vanoc officials know they will be able to sell out venues.

"Our objective is getting people into seats and getting as many tickets as possible into the hands of the public," he said.

Details about Olympic-experience packages will be released Sept. 17, when Vanoc relaunches its website. Denton said there will be two different programs, one aimed at short-term visitors and another for local residents to take advantage of, with event tickets for evening and weekend sporting sessions.

Cobb added that packages were designed based on consumer research and the logistics of getting purchasers to all the events.

Nor will they come at a discount. Denton said prices will be the total face-value amount of the event tickets, including the victory ceremony.

Vanoc has also revealed ticket details for the nightly victory ceremonies. They will make available 30,000 tickets for the events, which will include entertainment by top acts, as well as presentation of most of the competition medals.

Some 10,000 tickets will be free, but the bulk of 20,000 will be sold for $22 each.

Cobb, in a briefing, said Vanoc is now confident it will exceed its $232-million revenue target for ticket sales, based on its market research and requests for tickets by the so-called Olympic family of national Olympic committees, sponsors and sports federations.

The $231 million figure in Vanoc's current budget was based on an estimate that it would sell almost 90 per cent of available tickets.

"We know if [tickets] go on sale to the public, and they don't sell as many as expected, we'll go back to the Olympic family and fill their orders," Cobb said.

As it is, Cobb added that Vanoc won't be able to fill all of the requests that Olympic family members have placed for tickets.

Vanoc will have two million tickets to sell, 1.6 million to the sports events and opening and closing ceremonies, the rest to the nightly ceremonies.

Vanoc has vowed that 70 per cent of those 1.6 million competition and ceremonies tickets will be available to the public. More than 60 per cent of total tickets will be available in Canada.

Vanoc will only sell tickets inside Canada. National Olympic committees in participating countries are responsible for selling allocations of tickets in their territories, which will also begin Oct. 3.

It won't be 70 per cent across the board, though, Cobb explained. He said the proportion of seats taken up by the public and that taken by the Olympic family will vary depending on demands by the Olympic family.

However, Cobb said that no fewer than 30 per cent of any one event's tickets - even for the figure skating and hockey finals - will go to the public.

One challenge, Cobb added, was balancing all the Olympic-family requests for tickets, which in some cases exceeded the capacity of venues where events will be held. Vanoc could have filled GM Place twice over with Olympic-family members, for instance.

The allocations that Vanoc has given to the Olympic family members, which includes almost 200 constituent groups, are with the International Olympic Committee for final approval, which Cobb is confident Vanoc will receive.

He said the IOC has approved Vanoc's global allocation of 30 per cent of all tickets to the Olympic family.

"The result of it is that nobody [in the Olympic family] will get everything they ordered, especially for top events," Cobb said.

While he expects some "push-back" when groups learn what tickets they have been awarded, Cobb said the IOC and key sponsors have been supportive of Vanoc's campaign to fill every available seat and avoid some of the embarrassments that pictures of large blocks of empty seats provided at the Beijing and Turin Games.

depenner@vancouversun.com

[SpongeG]

there was something on the news about having to submit an application just to buy tickets

weird

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

there was something on the news about having to submit an application just to buy tickets

weird

it's an anti-scalper thing....

[zivan56]

Considering taxpayers have footed most of the bill, tickets should be significantly cheaper for residents of Canada (especially BC). $100+ for even the most boring of events is a rip-off...not to mention charging $22 for nightly ceremonies just smacks of being cheap.
Someone should write a book about this, "How to disembowel the Olympic experience: Vancouver 2010"

[jlousa]

I fail to see how the taxpayers have footed most of the bill.
Are you including the RAV line, the sea to sky highway and the convention centre in those costs?
The olympic oval and hillcrest will become public community centres after they're used and would've been built anyways, just not as nice and grand, so we can include a portion of those costs.
Reno's and upgrades to exisiting structures would have happened anyways, they were only sped up, but we can include portions of the costs for those as well.
The only things we are building that will cost taxpayers is the bobsled track and the ski jumps. But even those aren't a complete loss as we will be able to host additional events afterwards to recoup a portion of the costs however minimal.

The operating costs for the games, ie security etc will be more then made up by the operating revenues from the games.

Most games have been money makers in recent years, with the lack of new buildings and the amount of sponsership and tv money already rolling in I think it's a safe to assume our games will not be in the red.

[Coldrsx]

i am hoping for tickets from the inside as my pops is associated with VANOC

[zivan56]

The RAV line I wouldn't include, but the extra cost of the rush to build it-resulting in a mini Skytrain-I would. The Sea to Sky definitely wouldn't have been touched for decades had Whistler not been selected for some events. There are also tons of other city, provincial, and federal expenses which aren't listed on VANOC's books.
So, yes, the taxpayer has footed most of the bill; even though most of it is not an "official" Olympic expense.

[Coldrsx]

^which are bills that will leave the lower mainland far far better off in most ways.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

i am hoping for tickets from the inside as my pops is associated with VANOC

That's apparently not going to really happen.

Even people that work for VANOC have it made VERY clear to them that tickets will not really be one of the perks of the job. I don't even think they get much of a discount on merchandise.

[mr.x]

Check the new 2010 website at www.vancouver2010.com



As well, more ticketing info:

Vancouver 2010 ticket package information released

Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, September 18, 2008

Vancouver Olympic organizers have revealed details on the Olympic experience ticket packages it promised to offer as an easy means for spectators to get a total flavour of the 2010 Games.

And the packages will probably be a buyer's best chance of getting tickets to the 2010 Games. Though there are a limited number of them, the Olympic experience packages will be allocated tickets before single-session ticket requests.

The packages, 58 of them in all, tickets for several events bundled together, giving potential ticket buyers one item to select when trying for 2010 Olympics tickets instead of hunting through dozens of individual events and matching them with your schedule.

Tailored to either local residents or short-term visitors on three-to-six-day schedules, focusing on events in either in the city (Vancouver, Whistler, West Vancouver) or Whistler, or a combination, the packages are priced at $140 to $1,267.

Those prices, however, do not include surcharges. Dave Cobb, executive vice-president of revenue and marketing for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, said charges, and whether or not those charges would include local transportation costs, will be finalized before applications for ticket sales open Oct. 3.

Cobb said ticket surcharges would not cover travel to Whistler events. Riding a shuttle to the resort community will require an extra fee, though Cobb promised the fee would be considerably less than the price of a round-trip bus ticket now.

Vanoc CEO John Furlong said the ticket schedule "was designed in a particular way to touch all potential customer groups," and their potential budgets.

Cobb said pricing has been designed to price half the 2010 Olympics' 1.6 million tickets at $100 or less, with 100,000 of them priced at $25.

"So, I think for a comparable entertainment experience you can get in North America, we're quite pleased at how we stack up from a value standpoint," Cobb said.

Cobb added that packages were put together based on Vanoc's research on the public's desire of consumers to see more than one event if they come to the Games. However, people are not locked into buying packages.

Sales start with the opening of general public ticket applications, which runs from Oct. 3 to Nov. 7.
Prices are based on the cumulative face value of tickets for each event, with no bulk discount.
There are four different basic Olympic experience package (OEP) groupings: City Packages, Whistler Packages, Mixed Packages and Local Packages (both for city and for Whistler). Vanoc is expected to have full details on all packages by Thursday morning. Below are some examples.

City packages: (25 in total)
City OEP1: $1,032
Feb. 12, Opening ceremony.
Feb. 13, Women's hockey preliminary.
Feb. 14, Speed skating, 3,000 metre final.
Feb. 14, Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.

City OEP2: $457
Feb. 13, Short-track speed skating, women's 500 metre qualification, women's 3,000 metre relay qualification, men's 1,500 metre qualification/ final.
Feb. 14, Figure skating, pairs short program.
Feb. 15, Women's hockey preliminary.
Feb. 16. Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.

City OEP 3: $557
Feb. 13, Speed skating, men's 5,000-metre final.
Feb. 14, Women's hockey preliminary.
Feb. 14, Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.
Feb. 15, Figure skating, pairs free skate.

Whistler packages (eight in total)
Whistler OEP 1: $1,240
Feb. 12, Opening ceremony.
Feb. 13, Men's luge singles qualification.
Feb. 14, Biathlon, 10 k spring.

Whistler OEP 2: $220
Feb. 12, Men's ski jumping.
Feb. 13, Men's alpine skiing, downhill.
Feb. 14, Men's luge singles final.

Whistler OEP 3: $270
Feb. 13, Men's ski jumping final.
Feb. 14, Men's luge singles final.
Feb. 15, Cross-country skiing, women's 10 k individual, men's 15 k individual.
Feb. 16, Alpine skiing, men's super-combined qualification/ final.

Mixed (City and Whistler events) packages (17 in total)
Mixed OEP 1: $750
Feb. 12, Opening ceremony.
Feb. 13, Women's freestyle skiing, qualification and final.
Feb. 14, Men's Nordic combined event.
Mixed OEP 2: $850
Feb. 12, Opening Ceremony.
Feb. 13, Biathlon, women's 7.5 k sprint.
Feb. 14, Women's hockey preliminary.

Mixed OEP 3: $407
Feb. 13, Short-track speed skating, women's 500 metre qualification, women's 3,000 metre relay qualification, men's 1,500 metre qualification/ final.
Feb. 14, Alpine skiing, women's super-combined qualification/ final.
Feb. 15, Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.
Feb. 16, Figure skating, men's short program.

Local packages, eight in total (five city and three Whistler-specific), which package four to six events spread over weekends and evenings.

Local City OEP 1: $1,267
Feb. 12, Opening ceremony.
Feb. 17, Men's preliminary hockey.
Feb. 18, Women's snowboarding, halfpipe qualification/ semifinal/ final.
Feb. 18, Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.
Feb. 20, Women's curling qualification.
Feb. 20, Women's hockey semifinal.

Local City OEP2: $352
Feb. 13, Women's freestyle skiing, moguls qualifications and final.
Feb. 17, Men's hockey preliminary.
Feb. 19, Vancouver victory ceremony at BC Place Stadium.
Feb. 20, Men's curling qualification.
Feb. 24, short-track speed skating, women's 1,000-metre qualification, men's 500-metre qualification and women's 3,000 metre relay final.

Local Whistler OEP 1: $335
Feb. 13, Men's ski jumping, normal hill individual final.
Feb. 17, Men's luge doubles, runs 1 and 2 final.
Feb. 20, Cross-country skiing, men's 15 + 15 k pursuit.
Feb. 21, Alpine skiing, men's giant slalom, qualification/ final.
Feb. 26, Biathlon, men's 4 x 7.5 k relay.
Feb. 27, Bobsleigh, men's four-man runs 1 and 4 final.

Whistler OEP 2: $730
Feb. 14, Alpine skiing, woman's super-combined qualification/ final.
Feb. 19, Men's and women's skeleton, runs 3 and 4 final.
Feb. 21, Biathlon, men's 15 k mass start and women's 12.5 k mass start.
Feb. 23, Men's Nordic combined, large hill team and large hill team relay.
Feb. 26, Men's bobsleigh, four-man runs 1 and 2 qualification.
Feb. 28, Closing ceremony, BC Place Stadium.

[mr.x]

A reminder that ticket registration begins at midnight tonight and ends on Nov. 7.






ROFLMAO:


Olympic tickets on sale Friday, best package costs $285,000 (no typo)

Jeff Lee, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, October 02, 2008

VANCOUVER - Wealthy supporters of the 2010 Winter Games are being offered an Olympic dream that includes 100 prime tickets to the events of their choice, a car and driver, concierge service and even a spot in the torch relay.

The cost: $285,000 - not including GST of $14,251.

But hurry, because there are only 100 packages available.

About 2.0 million Olympic event tickets go on sale to the public Friday across Canada and around the world. The Vancouver Organizing Committee anticipates many events will be sold out over the five-week application period and that a lottery will be required to distribute tickets.

But organizing committee vice-president Dave Cobb acknowledged Thursday that a small group of spectators with deep pockets won't have to queue for tickets and they will get access to some things that ordinary spectators can't have during the Games.

The promotion, called "The Vancouver 2010 Club - A Patron's Program," will put $28.5 million in Vanoc's coffers if it is fully subscribed. A full-colour brochure details what a patron can buy with a $285,000 donation.

"In recognition of the considerable personal support you have given . . . Vancouver 2010 Club members will enjoy personal priority access to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games," the brochure states. "Each patron and their guest(s) will have the pleasure of a unique Games experience by receiving premium event tickets, personalized transportation and top-calibre hospitality."

Cobb said the organizing committee has already received commitments for about a third of the packages, and cheques for at least 10 of them. The program, which is similar to one at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, is designed to tap into wealthy donors for whom prime event access isn't necessarily the primary objective.

The 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City offered a three-level donor program of $1 million, $500,000 and $100,000, with varying levels of access.

The tickets will come out of the portion the organizing committee has set aside for the Olympic family, which includes sponsors, the media, sport federations and the IOC.

Olympic tickets were to go on sale at midnight under a program that is designed to foil scalpers and ticket hogs. From now until Nov. 7, the organizing committee will accept applications for ticket packages. Those sports that sell out quickly will go to a lottery system for distribution.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

[Yume-sama]

Well, it may have foiled scalpers and ticket hogs, but it'll be near impossible for people to get tickets to events they actually want to go to. Kind of disappointed, but, I'll somehow get in to the opening / closing ceremonies and some hockey games.

[twoNeurons]

I'm not so sure about that. NOT ALL the tickets are lottery. There's the regular frenzy in February for some tickets as well.

Don't know how many are available, though.

I was thinking of trying to get some ticket through the Japan Olympic Committee as my wife's a citizen. Hockey is less popular there, so perhaps a better chance of getting a ticket.

Figure skating would be impossible from the JOC, mind you.

My wife really want to see a ladies' figure skating finals, so hopefully... the lottery works out.

[sacrifice333]

I think I've got some work to do on my OEP. I currently have a "maximum total price" of near $25,000.00.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

I think I've got some work to do on my OEP. I currently have a "maximum total price" of near $25,000.00.

Uhhh... yeah...

So what are the most important events for all here.

One thing the packages don't say is where the seats are for the packages. What price class?

[Yume-sama]

I would kill to see the Men's Hockey Finals (maybe Women's) as long as Canada is in them. And I would love to see the Opening Ceremony. A couple other things would be kind of cool to see like speed skating. I could probably get tickets through one of the main sponsors of the games, but... VANOC has said they won't be giving them the "good" seats... we'll see whether or not they mean it. Hopefully not It also remains to be seen whether or not the Canucks will offer suite owners tickets to the events... if that were the case, then I at least could have an in for the events at "Canada Hockey Place".

[mr.x]

Slow economy may hurt 2010 Olympics ticket sales, tourism spinoff

2 hours ago

VANCOUVER — The credit crisis does not threaten the hosting of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, but a global economic slowdown could dampen ticket sales, tourism spinoffs and overall revenues from the event, economists say.

"There won't be a shortage of people, but there might well be a revenue shortfall and I would certainly expect the early ticket sales to be slow," said James Brander, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

"I think it's extremely unlikely we'll see cutbacks in the plans. And, for corporations, reneging on the Olympics would have a huge negative public relations effect. However, it is quite possible that people could do less well than they hoped and take losses instead of profits."

Ed Mansfield, a partner with the economics group at consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers, said a slowdown could also mean a drop in tourism as well as business generated at the Games.

"What has become common is to generate some economic leveraging around the Games. If the world's economy is turbulent, there will be far less of those individuals that will be coming," Mansfield said.

Walt Judas of Tourism Vancouver said there are already signs travel to the city is slowing, especially from the United States and that trend is expected to continue in the coming months. However, he said forecasts are the same for about 350,000 visitors to the city during the Olympics.

Dave Cobb, the Vancouver organizing committee's executive vice-president for revenue, marketing and communications, said while the Olympics are not immune to economic slowdowns, he believes the event will be sold out and make money.

"The economic challenges out there might make it tough, but we are still very confident we are going to achieve that objective," Cobb said.

He said the committee has secured about 90 per cent of its revenues for the event to date.

"We still have a ways to go, but companies we have been in discussion with, we have not seen any drop off in interest from them given what has gone on in the marketplace over the last couple of weeks," Cobb said.

Ticket sales, which started Friday and will take place over the next five weeks, are the last big chunk of revenue the organizing committee has to generate, Cobb said.

"We think probably people are taking a bit longer and thinking more carefully about how they are going to spend their money, but we are still very confident our Games will sell out," he said.

About 1.6 million tickets will be available to the public, representing 70 per cent of the overall tickets being sold to the Games, with prices ranging from $25 to $1,100.

Cobb said even if tourism slows in Vancouver as a result of a lagging economy, it won't hurt the event.

"Is it possible that it could drop off a little bit? I think it probably is," Cobb said. "But it won't drop off to the point where we would have empty hotel rooms and empty seats at our venues."

In fact, he is hoping the Games will help boost the economy, especially considering the committee has about a billion dollars to spend from its operating budget between now and the Games in February 2010.

"It's a big spending year for us coming up. Hopefully that is coming at a time when we are buying products and services from companies that might be struggling a little more," Cobb said.

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president at the Business Council of British Columbia, said the economic outlook is less rosy for the province in 2009 and 2010, and agrees the Games could provide some stimulation.

"The Olympics will take place in a softer economy that we were probably anticipating a year or two ago," said Finlayson. "It will be a particularly welcome injection of new spending into the economy."

[SpongeG]

so what happens if people buy tickets and get events they don't want?

can they scalp them?

or what if you get into a final and Canada isn't in it and you really don't want to go? do you just scalp them?

[NetMapel]

See I knew the "experience package" would include most of the events I DON'T want to see. Curling lol ? Just not interested...............

[sacrifice333]

Official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Hospitality Packages now on sale

Oct 10, 2008

Hospitality Packages now available at www.cosport.com

Vancouver, BC – The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) confirmed today that official hospitality packages for the XXI Olympic Winter Games that include tickets and accommodation are now on sale through CoSport at www.cosport.com. As the Official Hospitality Services provider for the 2010 Winter Games, CoSport offers 47 different packages to a wide variety of Olympic Winter Games events.

“With the recent attention and warranted concern regarding unauthorized ticket agents and hospitality package providers, we want to ensure that consumers have an authorized source where they can be confident the hospitality packages they purchase are official and legitimate. Jet Set Sports and its sister company CoSport have provided unparalleled hospitality experiences at Olympic Games since 1984, and we’re very pleased to partner with them in welcoming the world in 2010,” said Dave Cobb, VANOC executive vice president, Revenue, Marketing and Communications.

“We recognize that being able to book confirmed accommodation and tickets is a valuable and attractive opportunity, particularly for out-of-region spectators,” continued Cobb. “CoSport provides a simple, official, ‘one-stop’ source to book a once-in-a-lifetime hospitality package for the 2010 Winter Games.”

All hospitality packages available from CoSport include both tickets and accommodation and are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Hospitality package prices range from $3,806 to $34,500 (US dollars). Tickets included as part of CoSport’s hospitality packages include a wide range of both preliminary and medal-round events spread across all sports and ceremonies, representing 2.3 per cent of the 1.6 million tickets available to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Jet Set Sports and CoSport also offer hospitality packages for the 2010 Winter Games in several other countries including Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden and the United States.

Information on VANOC’s Official Supplier partnership with Jet Set Sports and CoSport is available at www.vancouver2010.com.

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 2010 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.

Contact
VANOC Communications
mediarelations@vancouver2010.com