Prom all the challenges – logistical, security, geopolitical, environmental… – that the organizers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris must meet even before the opening ceremony scheduled for July 26, 2024, one seems particularly manageable and decisive: that of make it a huge popular success. The organizing committee (Cojop) has also made it one of the refrains of its communication: while the French capital has not hosted the Games for a hundred years, Paris 2024 must be an event ” popular “ et ” accessible to everyone “.
With regard to this central objective, the first echoes concerning the sale of entry tickets for the competitions seem worrying. Prices deemed prohibitive, frustrated sports fans, misunderstanding linked to the rigidity of the formulas offered: the president of the Cojop, Tony Estanguet, in vain assures that “tens of thousands of people are delighted”, public discontent threatens, even as sales operations are just beginning. In fact, nearly 3 million people have registered for the draw for a first phase, open from February 15 to March 15, during which 3 million tickets, out of a total of 10 million, are put on sale. .
Avoid empty stadiums
The grievances of the lucky beneficiaries of the draw relate first to the limited choice offered to them, since, two weeks after the opening of the ticket office, around fifteen sports were no longer available. They are mainly aimed at the system of “packs” which requires the purchase of at least three tickets and the payment of the same number of tickets for each sport selected.
For a family, the bill can reach several thousand euros, which leads many people drawn to give up. A comparison of the fee schedules applied during the previous Olympic Games (OG) with that of Paris 2024 shows that the latter is among the highest.
No ticket distribution system is ideal. The draw has the merit of eliminating inequalities linked to Internet access and the saturation of the reservation system. As for the “packs”, they make it possible to distribute sales and avoid empty stadiums. The organizers have it easy to recall that 1 million tickets, or 10% of the total, will be sold at 24 euros, in all sports and that the price of half the tickets does not exceed 50 euros.
But they forget to specify that half – i.e. 500,000 – of these sesames at 24 euros is not directly put on sale because reserved – and therefore financed – by the State and the local authorities involved to be distributed in particular to young people, people with disabilities and volunteers engaged in sport.
Every taxpayer understands that balancing the Games budget requires solid revenues, in particular through the sale of tickets to the public. This must bring in a third of the 4.4 billion euros of the budget for the organization of the Olympic Games, itself subject to inflation. However, while the majority of places have yet to be allocated – 7 million tickets will be sold individually from May – the organizers must better explain their complex sales system to the public. Above all, everything must be done to give as many spectators as possible, in all categories of the population, the chance to attend the Games in which diversity and public satisfaction will be part of the criteria for success.