Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Tickets

[jar_e]

Didn't see a thread on this yet but is anyone going to be purchasing tickets?

I know you can start putting in your ticket application next week and then sometime in November you'll be contacted to let you know which ones you won in the lottery.

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Phase 1
October 3-November 7, 2008: Request Period

• Visit vancouver2010.com to build and submit your ticket request anytime during this five-week window.

November 8-November 23, 2008: Lottery Period

• Where ticket demand exceeds the available supply, an automated, random selection process (lottery) will ensure the fairest possible ticket distribution.

By December 5: Notification period

• All applicants will be notified by e-mail regarding the status of their ticket request and which sessions and/or packages they may have secured.

December 8-22: Priority access period

Remaining tickets will be re-released on a first-come, first-served basis exclusively to those who submitted a request during the Request Period.
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FYI, here's the ticket prices by sport.

I'll definitely be trying to get the men's gold medal hockey game (only $775 a ticket for prime seating) and probably else anything I can get my hands on. Thank goodness for lines of credit and visa cards

[jar_e]

edit: Thanks mods!

[burnin_vernon]

I am going to try for sure. What events (aside from hockey) would be the best to see live?

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

I am going to try for sure. What events (aside from hockey) would be the best to see live?

Guess it matters if your looking at staying in Vancouver or heading up to Whistler...

I would have to think curling, snowboard (particularly the half pipe), and probably some of the track sports (bobsled, luge, etc.)...the tough thing about these winter sports is that when you're viewing them as a spectator you will only see a small part of the actual event (ie the start/finish, etc.) so its kinda tough to justify dropping 25-100 bucks on a ticket for something you may see 5 minutes of.

[Antithesis]

I'm going to try to go as well. We'll see, but I want to do everything I can to get myself out there. It's not very often you get a chance to see an event like this.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Thanks Jar for the post.

[atb]

Request period starts today for anyone interested.

[The Ditch]

Am I getting this correctly off the website, you have to pre pay for all the tickets you want? That seems like such a money grab, chances are so slim to get any tickets it really hampers you to pre-pay because now I can only choose one hockey event or two ski events.

[Canada 02]

i don't think you pre-pay

you provide your credit card info so that if you win the lottery, they will charge your card in november

Your card will be charged immediately upon allocation of tickets in late November, 2008

[JBR]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

i don't think you pre-pay

you provide your credit card info so that if you win the lottery, they will charge your card in november

That's exactly right. I'm entered. Only chose the big events:

Opening Ceremonies
Women's Gold Medal game
Men's Gold Medal game

2 tickets to each (4 to the men's gold game) = $4300... and that's going with the cheapo's for the ceremonies.. Wow!!

I remember sitting lower bowl in the Dome for a round robin game in the 88 Olympics for around $30.

[GGG]

Other than Men's Hockey and figure skating the events seem pretty reasonably priced. I think they have to price men's hockey that high to reduce demand as there will only be about 3000 to 5000 tickets avaiable and the rest will go to the IOC.

[Bertuzzied]

Check out their premium package. Only 100 available so sign up fast. Oh yeah it's $285,000. hahaha.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...b-5d130d9654ee

100 premium tickets to any event, including up to eight tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies, a guaranteed four tickets to prime events such as the gold-medal finals of men's and women's hockey, curling, figure skating, speed skating and snowboard.. Premium seating at every victory ceremony.
. A vehicle and driver for four for the Olympic period.
. Admission for two to the International Olympic Committee's "prestigious Opening Ceremony" of its annual session.
. The right for one person to run in the torch relay, and to keep a torch and torch-relay uniform.
. Entrance to other hospitality functions.

[cSpooge]

man I really want to get tickets to hockey or speed skating... but if I get more then what I originally wanted there is no way I could afford it ... they should have done this like they do for soccer.... draw for the tickets then put in your payment information when you get the tickets allocated to you.

[The Ditch]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

man I really want to get tickets to hockey or speed skating... but if I get more then what I originally wanted there is no way I could afford it ... they should have done this like they do for soccer.... draw for the tickets then put in your payment information when you get the tickets allocated to you.

I think that's exactly what they should have done. I liked the system the had for the World Cup.

[malcolmk14]

I'm not advocating scalping here but honestly how much profit do you think you could make for a lower bowl Gold Medal Finals ticket if Canada made it?

[jar_e]

Well I priced it out for some of the events I'm interested in...would include:

-Opening/Closing Ceremony
-Speed skating (about 4 different finals)
-Snowboard Halfpipe finals and slalom finals
-Hockey (men's and women's gold medal game, men's quarter finals, women's semi's)

Overall...13 events, around $3600 per person. Pretty decent seats too..."A" level pricing for the men's hockey finals, "B" level pricing for women's gold medal game and opening/closing ceremonies. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to cram $7000 on my visa lol

[GGG]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

man I really want to get tickets to hockey or speed skating... but if I get more then what I originally wanted there is no way I could afford it ... they should have done this like they do for soccer.... draw for the tickets then put in your payment information when you get the tickets allocated to you.

I like the current system as it will reduce the number of people applying. If you know that you are comitting money to this process you will only apply for the events you want thus making it more likely that a larger number of people will get to go to the olympics. I would even perfer if you had to put a $100 or $200 refundable deposit with your application that would be charged immediately.

[The Ditch]

Does it really matter how much you charge? Big time scalpers and scalping companies have tons of money, this system is hurting the average person. Here is an example. I want to go to a hockey game, chances are very slim I will get a pick to one so I put in for a bunch of games. Luck has it I get picked for 4 games, I wanted 2 games max, so now I'm getting charged way more, or if I don't have that much on my credit card I default all tickets?

This is nothing for scalpers they will probably make multiple accounts and try to get as many tickets as possible. My world cup tickets were tied to my passport, now they didn't check the passports all the time but they did for at least one game, if it didn't match up you didn't get in.

[malcolmk14]

FIFA is leaps and bounds ahead of the IOC as far as a fair ticketing process goes.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

Does it really matter how much you charge? Big time scalpers and scalping companies have tons of money, this system is hurting the average person. Here is an example. I want to go to a hockey game, chances are very slim I will get a pick to one so I put in for a bunch of games. Luck has it I get picked for 4 games, I wanted 2 games max, so now I'm getting charged way more, or if I don't have that much on my credit card I default all tickets?

This is nothing for scalpers they will probably make multiple accounts and try to get as many tickets as possible. My world cup tickets were tied to my passport, now they didn't check the passports all the time but they did for at least one game, if it didn't match up you didn't get in.

I like the tying your tickets to your identity

the process on the vancouver website allows you to select alternatives if your first alterative is full to avoid doubles. How does the Fifa system work that makes it better?