2010 Ticket Information
 

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.

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

weird

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

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"

I fail to see how the taxpayers have footed most of the bill. :shrug:
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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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

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?

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 :P 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".

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."

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?

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

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
[email protected]

There will be a provision for people who have tickets to resell on the Vancouver2010 website.

Technically, selling the tickets at above the sticker price can get the ticket invalidated... but I doubt that will stop anyone.

All of the $34,500 2010 Olympic tickets sold


The Province; News Services
Published: Thursday, October 30, 2008

Rich sports fans hoping to plunk down $34,500 on a luxury ticket package to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver are out of luck.

The 120 packages available -- which include guaranteed seats to the men's gold-medal hockey game, along with perks such as hotel stays, meals, airport pickups and host services -- sold out two weeks after they went on sale, Jean-Paul Modde, president of hospitality provider CoSport, said yesterday.

Available on a first-come, first-served basis, the packages went for $34,500 a couple.

Other packages ranging from $4,000 to $21,000 are still available, but they too are being snatched up fast, particularly those that include tickets to the Games' opening ceremonies.




© The Vancouver Province 2008

Vanoc flooded with 2010 Olympic ticket requests

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, October 03, 2008

VANCOUVER - People looking to buy tickets to the 2010 Olympics flooded the computer servers of the Vancouver Organizing Committee early Friday.

Early reports by Vanoc indicated that they underestimated the amount of traffic they anticipated when the ticket purchase program went live at midnight, Pacific time.

"Off the top, when we first activated the site, there was about 30 times the usual traffic we see at vancouver2010.com, and that interest has come from across the country - coast to coast," said spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade. "We were not counting on seeing a huge rush of applications of the top, and consistent with that, what we are seeing so far is a huge interest in coming into the site and "looking around", shopping around, as people are curious to see what is available for tickets and are looking to get a sense of how it all works."

Vanoc is putting up about 1.6 million tickets for sale, but they are not on a first-come, first-served basis.

In an effort to prevent scalpers and ticket hogs from claiming the best seats, Vanoc instituted a reservation system that will allow people to apply for tickets over a five-week period.

Between now and Nov. 7 ticket-hunters can browse Vanoc's web site and choose either single tickets or build "Olympic Experience Packages."

Tickets for high-demand events will go to a lottery system afterwards.

Vanoc predicts that such events as figure skating, gold-medal men's and women's hockey, Canadian curling and even some downhill events may be oversubscribed and require a lottery.

Smith-Valade said Vanoc has worked hard in recent weeks to get the message out to ticket buyers that they have time to put together their dream packages.

"We're encouraged by that as it seems to indicate that our message that its important to take your time, and that it's not a race, has been clear."

Vanoc has not said how many package requests it has received today, or whether some sports may already be sold out.






You'll need lottery luck for top 2010 Games tickets
Vanoc expects lottery to decide who gets 2010 Games tickets for many top-level events

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008

VANCOUVER - With one week to go before the end of the first phase of ticket sales, Vancouver Olympic organizers say they now expect strong public demand will force tickets to many top-level events to be decided on the basis of a lottery.

But they're not specifying which sports and events have already had more orders than available tickets, saying they don't want to dissuade people from putting in orders for their dream tickets.

"I knew you would ask that, and you knew I wouldn't answer that, didn't you?" joked Dave Cobb, Vanoc's executive vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications when asked to identify which sports have been sold out. "We don't want to interfere with peoples' ordering process. We don't want them to necessarily affected by what other people are doing."

However, Cobb said Vanoc has always believed that the lottery process would be necessary for men's hockey, from the quarter-finals on up, and all of figure skating, long-track speed skating and all medal events for all sports.

Now, he said, orders placed since Vanoc began taking requests on Oct. 3 show that many more sports will likely go to lottery.

"I can tell you that we've significantly exceeded the number of orders I was expecting at this stage," he said. "So we will have more events going to lottery than I expected."

Cobb says that if people want to increase their chances of getting tickets to high-demand events, they should look at applying for "Olympic Experience Packages" which combine some events.

Those packages are less likely to go to lottery.

But he's also warning people to be careful not to over-order or take a shotgun approach to ordering in the hope of getting something.

"People who order on VISA need to be aware that they could possibly get everything they want in the lottery and need to be prepared that all these tickets will show up on their credit card bill," he said.

Unlike concerts and other public events, tickets to the 2010 Winter Games aren't being allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Vanoc opened the first phase for access to tickets on Oct. 3, telling customers to place their preferred orders before Nov. 7.

After that, Vanoc will fill all orders, as placed, for events that don't require a lottery.

On Dec. 8 Vanoc will reopen the ordering process for those who participated in the first phase, allowing them to buy other tickets in real time, but on a restricted basis.

Cobb said the second phase, which will come in time for Christmas, will allow customers to choose from events in lesser demand, up to a maximum of 50 tickets.

While Vanoc is keeping secret those events going to lottery, it released some figures showing the level of demand:

- Requests have come in from over 1,000 cities in every province and territory in the country;

- 93 per cent of all requests are for tickets to more than one sport (probably hockey);

- The average number of tickets per order is 15;

- The most orders have come from B.C., Ontario and Alberta, in that order.

"From the day we launched ticket sales, Canadians' response to attending the 2010 Olympic Winter Games has been outstanding across the full spectrum of sport events," Caley Denton, Vanoc's vice president of ticketing and consumer marketing said in a press release issued early Friday.

"With just one week to go in Phase One ticket orders, the most important thing to remember is that a request placed on or before November 7 is your best chance to receive the tickets you want and is the only way to qualify to order tickets in the Priority Access Period before the holidays." Cobb said Vanoc is seeing demand in all sports, including those not historically popular in Canada, such as Nordic combined, a combination of ski-jumping and cross-country that is popular in Europe but which has no following here.

Vanoc is also highlighting availability of tickets to preliminary events, since many of the medal rounds now appear to be going to lottery.

[email protected]

Ticket request
 

Of course I put off until 11:45 pm tonight (Nov 7) to put in my order. It is hard to believe that the average order has been for 15 tickets. Hell I put in an order for 6 tickets, at the cheapest event selection prices, and my total came out to $850.

Hopefully I don't get all the tickets I requested or I'll be paying a wee bit of moula... though got it down considerably from my first choices that resulted in a max charge of $25,000.

:notacrook:

I got in on the hockey final package with snowboard and closing ceremonies. Two seats - $2375.00

Here's hopin' all the stars are in alignment.

When will we know?

You will be notified first week of December (I think 5th), although apparently your Visa will be charged in late November for those tickets you are going to recieve, so I think you should have a good idea by end of month. If I get everything I requested, no xmas for anybody I know - Visa will be pinned!

Is it true that lottery losers get first right of refusal on anything leftover?

I believe that anyone who submitted a request through the lottery, whether successful or not, gets first pick on remaining tics in January (i think), before ther rest get released to public in February.

I have very little hope of receiving everything I ordered, considering most of the tickets were either hockey games or medal rounds, but it's probably a good thing considering the bill would be $7,800 or so. lol

2010 ticket requests outstrip supply
140,000 Canadians sought tickets for gold-medal hockey game

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, November 13, 2008

VANCOUVER - Demand for tickets to the 2010 Winter Games was so high among Canadians that there will be lotteries for 120 of 170 events, the Vancouver Organizing Committee said Thursday.

When the dust settled after the initial ticket request period ended on Nov. 7, Vanoc discovered that Canadians had submitted more than $345 million in wish lists, far outstripping even the high demand experienced during the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

Those Games, even with the fallout of 9/11 and a bribing scandal, have ranked as one of the few Games that experienced sellouts at the ticket wicket. But Vancouver appears to have wildly eclipsed Salt Lake.

Vanoc officials said that Canadian patrons over five weeks had requested four and a half times the requests put in for the 2002 Games over nine weeks.

On the last day alone, Canadians put in requests totalling $135 million.

To no one's surprise, the highest demand for tickets is in hockey, figure skating and the opening and closing ceremonies. All of those, as well as short track speed skating, will go to lottery.

Among the ticket request numbers Vanoc published Thursday:

. Total value of tickets requested by Canadian residents: $345 million

. Value of tickets requested on November 7 alone: $135 million

. More than 140,000 tickets requested for men's gold medal hockey

. More than 41,000 tickets for women's gold medal hockey

. More than 84,000 tickets for the Opening Ceremony

. More than 27,000 tickets for men's halfpipe snowboard

. More than 34,000 tickets for short track speed skating sessions

. More than 10,200 tickets for men's four-man bobsleigh final

. More than 19,800 tickets for men's gold medal curling



Vancouver2010.com by the numbers:

18.4 million page views from October 3 to November 7

More than 3.5 million page views on November 7 alone

The three busiest days in the history of the website were the last two days of the Request Period (November 6 and 7) as well as the first day (October 3)

Well the good news is I probably won't be having to come up with the max amount of my order...

double post FTW

All things being equal (which I know they aren't ), roughly 13% chance of getting tickets to the Men's Gold Medal hockey game. That's not very good.

:P They should have done something revolutionary and put in a sheet of Olympic sized ice at BC Place and played the Mens / Womens Final there.

The NHL can do it outdoors even... it'd be great to have 60,000 people in attendance, especially considering this is CANADA.

It's a much better chance than I thought it would be though.

There are huge logistical issues, besides the fact that it would be a nightmare to have tens of thousands of empty seats if Canada doesn't make it to the finals. As well, with a lower supply and high demand = high ticket prices = more revenues.

As for logistical issues, the men's gold medal game is always held on the morning of the closing day - the closing ceremonies.

how would selling ~ 60 thousand tickets for BC Place lead to less revenue than GM Place ( ~ 18,000)...the demand will be insane that people would be willing to pay $100 to sit on the fourth floor to watch the game ( if Canada is playing)

Well... I mean, considering it is the *Winter* Olympics, it would make sense to somehow incorporate ice in to the opening / closing ceremonies. People skate in the winter, all they would have to do is remove the boards and glass which is no more than a few hour process if you have enough people working. And I agree, 60,000 people would buy tickets... probably no matter who was in the final. All the tickets would be sold before the games, anyways, and we wouldn't have to be the only Olympics to ever have a Final on ice that didn't meet international specifications :P

Well it also has to do with logistics.....the mens gold medal game ends (assuming no overtime) 3 hours before the closing ceremony starts.

VANOC has already publicly said that they would rather work with smaller venues that will be a guaranteed success rather than working with larger, riskier capacities.

Apparenlty there are only 4000-5000 tickets available to the Canadian public for the gold medal game, so the chance is much less than 13%

1 in 25.....still beats the odds of winning the 6/49 or Super 7. :D

I have a feeling I didn't request my tickets properly. I don't remember giving my Visa number. :(

I put in a couple requests for the longest-distance speed skating. Since there wasn't a mention of that I hope I get my wish. :-)

Apparently there's plenty of tickets left for the 100 metre snowshoe event. j/k.

It seems there wasn't much interest in that one.

Olympic speed skating tickets will sell out

By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review

Published: November 14, 2008 5:00 PM

Expectations that demand would outstrip supply for Olympic events at the Richmond oval have proven correct.

More people have requested seats at long track speed skating events than there are tickets available, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for 2010 announced Thursday.

Those events, along with all figure skating, short track speed skating, higher rounds of men’s ice hockey and opening and closing ceremonies will all go to a lottery.

“Speed skating is traditionally a very popular event in the Olympics, and made more so by the fact that Canada is obviously a powerhouse in the sport these days, and is expected to do so very well in the Olympics,” said city spokesperson Ted Townsend.

“We think we have a little advantage in having what is the premiere venue for the Games.”

Undoubtedly some ticket buyers may only have a passing interest in the sport, but are drawn by the venue.

“Anybody who’s been in the building or seen it has just raved about it, so I think it’s going to be a unique experience unto itself during the Games,” said Townsend.

There’s proven interest in the oval, from the 8,000 people who signed a section of roof, to a school program announced last week that now has a wait-list.

That program gives school children a chance to skate on the oval. The first phase of that program had 6,600 spots. After a few hours of registration, all the spots on the first phase had been filled.

“The school program and some of the other 2010 programs we have recognize that demand is probably going to exceed supply during the Games, so we want to create as many fun and exciting opportunities as we can for people to come into the oval... or take part in other Olympic activities...” said Townsend.

The deadline for the first request period of tickets was Nov. 7. Total requests for tickets amounted to $345 million—almost five times the value of tickets available. In comparison, at Salt Lake City in 2002, initial demand was valued at just $75 million.

Tickets not yet snapped up will be re-released for sale from Dec. 8 to 22 exclusively to Canadian residents who submitted a request during the first period. Any tickets still remaining will go on sale on a first-come, first-served basis in 2009.

Coun. Bill McNulty said he wasn’t surprised by the demand for speed skating tickets.

“I could have predicted that,” he said. “Speed skating is one of those venues where the greatest numbers of medals are to be garnered at any one site, so you would expect the popularity.”

^^^ Yeah... we want to see someone win and Canada can actually sweep the floor...:P that and short track are very entertaining.... though i like short track more... but only slightly to longtrack

You're killing my hopes and dreams here!

At the Risk of Early Disappointment
 

Has anyone who put in ticket requests seen any charges on their visas?

I re-read the instructions, and it confirms the suspicion someone had mentioned that if you did get selected, you'd probably have charges on your cards prior to receiving official notification. The rules state they will authorize charges as the tickets are allocated in the lotteries. They state the lottery period is Nov 8 - 23 in their guidelines, but formal notifications start Dec 5.

So, any activity on anyone's account? Or has anyone heard or read anything from other folks? It sounds like the response was overwhelming so it's hard to be optimistic.

Nada here : (.