Phase 1 ticket inventory for 2010 Olympic Winter Games going, going, gone

Additional tickets to go on sale in mid 2009

(Canada Newswire English Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)

VANCOUVER, Dec. 12 /CNW/ - A mere five hours after they were re-released for sale today, the remaining available tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games in the Priority Access Period have been sold, reported the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) this afternoon. The next phase of Vancouver 2010 ticket sales will occur in mid-2009. VANOC will begin selling tickets to the Paralympic Winter Games on May 6, 2009. VANOC is continuing to work with tickets.com on an authorized ticket resale program where people will be able to offer their tickets for sale, and customers will be able to buy with confidence knowing tickets are legitimate. Further details will be announced later in 2009.

"Once again, we have been amazed by the interest and support shown by Canadians in tickets to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice-president ticketing and consumer marketing. "Our website was overwhelmed today and we want to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and patience. We encourage anyone who wants tickets in the future to sign up for updates at www.vancouver2010.com."

The tickets today were only available to Canadians who requested tickets in Phase 1 of sales, which ended November 7. The Priority Access Period was originally scheduled to run from today to December 22. Earlier this week, VANOC invited ticket account holders to sign into their ticket account at www.vancouver2010.com to find out what tickets they had received from their earlier requests this fall.

Tickets.com sales surge for the 2010 Winter Olympics

The Costa Mesa-based company is the official supplier for the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

OC Metro
By Jena Vuylsteke
Published: November 24, 2008

Although the 2010 Winter Games are over a year a way, tickets.com has already seen their sales skyrocket. Expected to release 1.6 million tickets over the course of the next year, the company began phase one of the process on Oct. 3, opening up tickets for Canadian residents that ranged anywhere from $25 for a single event, to $1,100 to attend the opening or closing ceremonies.

“In terms of volume, Vancouver presented a unique challenge; compared to the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games, in phase one alone Vancouver has already sold two times the tickets requested,” according to tickets.com CEO Larry Witherspoon.

Activating a new ProVenue Ticket Management System to ensure security, the Vancouver Organizing Committee agreed that the first phase of sales was a success. "The Web site developed by tickets.com was easy to use and held up under incredible volume including $135 million in requests on the final day,” says Caley Denton, the committee's vice president.

The 2010 Winter Games marks tickets.com’s fourth time as an Olympic retailer, beginning with the Atlanta Summer Games in 1996.

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