Let your fingers do the walking to the final Olympic ticketing gold rush for the 2010 Winter Games.
The June 6 offering of more than 150,000 extra tickets to the public will include “several hundred” prized tickets to the most anticipated Olympic event of all, the gold-medal match for the men's hockey title, Games' organizers disclosed Wednesday.
All tickets will be sold over the Internet on a first-come, first-served basis, and, much like admissions to rock concerts by such legendary performers as Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones, they are expected to be scooped up by anxious fans in short order.
Also in the mix, besides ducats to the men's hockey showdown, are “several thousand” tickets each to the extravagant opening and closing ceremonies, said VANOC executive vice-president Dave Cobb.
In fact, there will be tickets available on June 6 to every Olympic event, Mr. Cobb added, all part of a contingency allotment held back from last fall's sold-out ticket sale, while media space and seating arrangements were determined at each venue.
Although next month's tickets will not be allocated by lottery, Mr. Cobb said the sale will nevertheless include some “randomness” through an on-line “waiting room,” where prospective buyers will be funnelled during periods of heavy volume. Exits from the so-called waiting room onto the official purchase site will then occur on a random basis, he explained.
Mr. Cobb said he is confident there will be no repeat of the fiasco that overtook last weekend's on-line sale of about 40,000 Olympic tickets in the United States. The sale, conducted by the Games' exclusive U.S. ticketing agency CoSport, began an hour late, and subsequent computer glitches prevented many from completing their purchases in time. When they tried again, the tickets were sold, angry fans complained.
“Our capacity to handle a large volume of traffic was tested in the fall, and our system stood up very well,” Mr. Cobb said. “We expect there will be waiting times [on June 6], but we hope they will not be too substantial.”
The mostly highly prized tickets will not be cheap. Top price for the opening ceremony is $1,100, while the best seats for the men's gold-medal hockey game peak at $775. The best tickets for the various figure-skating finals run as high as $450.
Meanwhile, VANOC had good news for 19 communities across Canada. They were added to the epic, cross-country journey of the Olympic torch, scheduled to begin this fall in Victoria. Five are in B.C.: Lac La Hache, Pender Harbour, Qualicum, Qualicum Bay and the native village of Xaxli'p.
The torch will also now touch down in Canada's most northern community, Grise Fiord. “We managed to figure out the logistics to get in there,” said pleased VANOC chief John Furlong. “We've now hit the wall in terms of community stops. We will leave Victoria and come back, all in one go, in 160 days. No rest days.”
The VANOC announcements followed one of its last regular board meetings before the Olympics start Feb. 10. Board chairman Jack Poole said the ongoing economic downturn remains a primary concern.
“Management continues to be in a pressure cooker … to balance cash in and cash out. It's a daunting task, to say the least,” Mr. Poole said. “But I am confident we will deliver outstanding Games in spectacular, sold-out venues.”
Mr. Cobb said none of VANOC's corporate sponsors has reneged on a financial commitment so far, not even hard-pressed General Motors. “We continue to have discussions with them, and they have assured us they will fulfill their obligations. We take them at their word.”
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