Successful Fan-To-Fan Ticket Reselling Initiative was an Olympic First
Tickets.com—a leading global provider of integrated, high-performance ticketing solutions—employed its proprietary, web-based ProVenue Ticketing Management System to handle 100-percent of the ticketing for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. ProVenue efficiently and successfully facilitated all primary sales for Olympic and Paralympic events—and in December of 2009, Tickets.com also established the first-ever officially sanctioned secondary ticketing platform in Olympic history.
“Ticketing operations ran smoothly throughout the Games,” said Caley Denton, Vice President, Ticketing and Consumer Marketing for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “Tickets.com was an exceptional partner and the ProVenue Ticketing System was easy to understand and convenient to use. It served fans across Canada and around the world, handling extreme volume with no complications. We consider it a great success.”
The fan-to-fan secondary ticket marketplace implemented in ProVenue for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games exceeded all sales expectations. The innovative platform allowed fans to post their tickets for resale or donate their tickets to charities and community organizations—It also had the functionality to provide sponsors the ability to consign available ticket inventory for resale at face value to Olympic fans. By making these transactions through the official and secure Vancouver 2010 ticketing website, all parties involved had the assurance that their tickets were genuine.
“We were pleased that the introduction of official secondary ticketing for the Games enjoyed such robust sales. Since this type of operation hadn’t been done before at the Olympic level, we weren’t sure what to forecast in terms of budget numbers, ticket price ceilings, or transaction volume,” said Larry Witherspoon, Chief Executive Officer, Tickets.com. “The fact that we were able to rise to the challenge in handling the extraordinary demand is extremely gratifying and a major milestone for our ProVenue product.”
The fan-to-fan marketplace enabled ticket holders and sponsors to sign into their Vancouver 2010 ticketing account and post their tickets for resale to other fans. Sellers could name their own price, and buyers benefited from a wide range of ticket options. The variety of ticketing options helped to ensure that venues were full of cheering spectators during the Games.
The Vancouver 2010 experience builds on a longstanding record of Olympic ticketing success for Tickets.com, including involvement with the Atlanta 1996 Summer Games, the Sydney 2000 Summer Games and the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games. Tickets.com continues its support of the Olympic movement as an official supplier of the Canadian Olympic team through 2012.
Showing posts with label vancouver 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vancouver 2010. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Olympic secondary sales beat budget
SportsBusiness Daily
Don Muret
Larry Witherspoon is entering his sixth year as CEO of the MLB Advanced Media subsidiary Tickets.com. During the Tickets.com Executive Summit in Long Beach, Calif., last week, he sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Don Muret and discussed the state of the ticketing business in the wake of the merger between Ticketmaster and event promoter Live Nation, as well as the Vancouver Olympics, where Tickets.com operated an officially sanctioned secondary ticketing platform for the first time in the event’s history.
Break down your Vancouver operations.
Witherspoon: We [did] 100 percent of the ticketing up there. We did the primary sales all throughout last year, and in December, we launched the secondary fan-to-fan marketplace. With that, we have the whole spate of tools for the Olympic experience, the ability for people to donate their tickets to charity, the ability for sponsors to do consignment of tickets when they have available inventory, and the cart of integrated primary and secondary tickets, where you can see both marketplaces and make a decision based on what you want to buy. All very cool new stuff. [The secondary market] has exceeded every budgetary expectation we did set. It was $10 million, but the problem we have is that it’s never been done before, so how you budget for the unknown was hard for us. Frankly, the matchups that occur play a big part as well. There’s a lot of national pride involved, and some people are going to be willing to go to that game regardless of what it’s going to cost them.
Tickets.com handled both primary and secondary ticketing at the Vancouver Olympics.
How do see the ticketing landscape changing?
Witherspoon: Three years ago, we reinvented our product [with ProVenue software]; literally started from the ground up. It’s been a painful process, and there’s a reason nobody’s developed anything new in the past 10 to 15 years in the ticketing world: It’s hard. What we really see to our advantage is our ability to provide technology to a venue or a team that allows them full control. So we don’t do the “Here’s a big check. We’re going to take a large part of the service charge.” What we do say is “Here’s our license. We’ll take a small vig on a service charge ticket, you control what you want to do with your service charges, [and] you take control of how you want to sell to the public.” We’ve seen some good results. The Seattle Theatre Group is a client that came on board with us and eliminated their print-at-home fees, first time people have done that in a long time, and dropped some of their service charges a little bit. Great press.
Do you see that applicable in sports?
Witherspoon: It depends. I think sports are a little different in that you have the governing bodies. I understand how MLB works, but I don’t know how much flexibility teams have in their service fee setup. From our system perspective, for sure, it gives anybody the ability to control it and manage it and manage their own ticketing system, which obviously lowers our costs, which allows us to provide a lower point to them, so then they actually get a little bit more control over their fees and prices.
Where do you see the growth in sports? Derek Palmer, your chief commercial officer, mentioned the lack of an NBA team as a client.
Witherspoon: Right now, we do about half of MLB and we have two teams [Twins and Royals] on our new product [ProVenue 2.0] and we plan on adding a lot more teams. I feel that arenas with teams feel they have a little bit more control over their ability to move without the threat of lack of content, of “Am I going to make Ticketmaster/Live Nation mad,” where they get worried about what acts [they] are going to get in and things like that. If you look at it from that perspective, then technology becomes a really big play for them, because everybody wants more data, more touchpoints with the client, how the process is working. We provide all that technology, and to drive it we partner in and integrate with third-party dynamic pricing, like we did with the San Francisco Giants and Qcue.
It’s been reported that MLBAM is in talks with AEG about possibly forming a joint ticketing venture. What can you say at this point about those discussions?
Witherspoon: Nothing really. I think as the industry has changed recently, there are a lot of people talking to a lot of different companies. Where that all will go is still to be seen. Obviously, not even in the context of AEG, but there are large regional ticketing companies, there [are] large Broadway companies that have relationships with existing ticket providers that are now looking around. Our ability to provide a self-operational model puts us in a good discussion point with anyone, frankly, at this point.
Don Muret
Larry Witherspoon is entering his sixth year as CEO of the MLB Advanced Media subsidiary Tickets.com. During the Tickets.com Executive Summit in Long Beach, Calif., last week, he sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Don Muret and discussed the state of the ticketing business in the wake of the merger between Ticketmaster and event promoter Live Nation, as well as the Vancouver Olympics, where Tickets.com operated an officially sanctioned secondary ticketing platform for the first time in the event’s history.
Break down your Vancouver operations.
Witherspoon: We [did] 100 percent of the ticketing up there. We did the primary sales all throughout last year, and in December, we launched the secondary fan-to-fan marketplace. With that, we have the whole spate of tools for the Olympic experience, the ability for people to donate their tickets to charity, the ability for sponsors to do consignment of tickets when they have available inventory, and the cart of integrated primary and secondary tickets, where you can see both marketplaces and make a decision based on what you want to buy. All very cool new stuff. [The secondary market] has exceeded every budgetary expectation we did set. It was $10 million, but the problem we have is that it’s never been done before, so how you budget for the unknown was hard for us. Frankly, the matchups that occur play a big part as well. There’s a lot of national pride involved, and some people are going to be willing to go to that game regardless of what it’s going to cost them.
Tickets.com handled both primary and secondary ticketing at the Vancouver Olympics.
How do see the ticketing landscape changing?
Witherspoon: Three years ago, we reinvented our product [with ProVenue software]; literally started from the ground up. It’s been a painful process, and there’s a reason nobody’s developed anything new in the past 10 to 15 years in the ticketing world: It’s hard. What we really see to our advantage is our ability to provide technology to a venue or a team that allows them full control. So we don’t do the “Here’s a big check. We’re going to take a large part of the service charge.” What we do say is “Here’s our license. We’ll take a small vig on a service charge ticket, you control what you want to do with your service charges, [and] you take control of how you want to sell to the public.” We’ve seen some good results. The Seattle Theatre Group is a client that came on board with us and eliminated their print-at-home fees, first time people have done that in a long time, and dropped some of their service charges a little bit. Great press.
Do you see that applicable in sports?
Witherspoon: It depends. I think sports are a little different in that you have the governing bodies. I understand how MLB works, but I don’t know how much flexibility teams have in their service fee setup. From our system perspective, for sure, it gives anybody the ability to control it and manage it and manage their own ticketing system, which obviously lowers our costs, which allows us to provide a lower point to them, so then they actually get a little bit more control over their fees and prices.
Where do you see the growth in sports? Derek Palmer, your chief commercial officer, mentioned the lack of an NBA team as a client.
Witherspoon: Right now, we do about half of MLB and we have two teams [Twins and Royals] on our new product [ProVenue 2.0] and we plan on adding a lot more teams. I feel that arenas with teams feel they have a little bit more control over their ability to move without the threat of lack of content, of “Am I going to make Ticketmaster/Live Nation mad,” where they get worried about what acts [they] are going to get in and things like that. If you look at it from that perspective, then technology becomes a really big play for them, because everybody wants more data, more touchpoints with the client, how the process is working. We provide all that technology, and to drive it we partner in and integrate with third-party dynamic pricing, like we did with the San Francisco Giants and Qcue.
It’s been reported that MLBAM is in talks with AEG about possibly forming a joint ticketing venture. What can you say at this point about those discussions?
Witherspoon: Nothing really. I think as the industry has changed recently, there are a lot of people talking to a lot of different companies. Where that all will go is still to be seen. Obviously, not even in the context of AEG, but there are large regional ticketing companies, there [are] large Broadway companies that have relationships with existing ticket providers that are now looking around. Our ability to provide a self-operational model puts us in a good discussion point with anyone, frankly, at this point.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Olympics Take A Stab At Secondary Tickets
Venues Today
By Dave Brooks
After years of opposing the resale of event tickets, the Vancouver Olympic Committee has introduced the first Olympic-sanctioned ticketing resale program. Powered by Tickets.com, the new system has separate tiers for consumers to sell tickets to other consumers, and an additional site for sponsors to trade and resell tickets to other sponsors.
For Canadian ticket buyers, the “fan-to-fan” marketplace at vancouver2010.com is designed to help fill empty seats and create a safe, reliable resale market where fans can sell their tickets without having to worry if they are stolen or counterfeit. Only Canadians who purchased their tickets through the VANOC system are allowed to list and sell tickets, although international visitors are allowed to view and purchase tickets.
“Obviously with any event out there, there is a secondary market, but we wanted to make sure we could keep control of it,” said Thomas Benson, director of Ticketing for Tickets.com’s Olympic operations. “Nothing is worse than somebody who shows up for the opening ceremonies and bought a ticket from a guy on the corner and it turns out the ticket is not valid after they shelled out $1,500. That’s pretty heart breaking. This is legitimate and it’s the only guaranteed way to get a ticket on the secondary market.”
The Olympic secondary marketplace will operate like most other sites — there will be no limits on price markup (although tickets can’t be sold below face), and like Tickets.com’s deal with StubHub and Major League Baseball, all tickets will be re-barcoded and reprinted for the buyer once the sale is complete. Secondary buyers will pick up their tickets from the will call window. VANOC will charge a 10-percent fee to both the seller and buyer for each transaction.
The VANOC team originally considered putting some limitations on how high a ticket could be marked up, but decided to scrap the caps.
“Basically we want to get as many people into the system as we can and as soon as you put a limit on it they go to Craigslist and sell their ticket because there is no limit there,” Benson said.
The other system announced was a platform for sponsors to sell and trade tickets to other sponsors. Unlike the consumer website, sponsors are not allowed to mark up the price of tickets, nor are they allowed to sell the tickets to the general public. If a sponsor has a difficult time filling a particular seat, they can consign the tickets to VANOC, which will place the inventory back into the primary market at no cost to the sponsor.
“Sponsors cannot directly sell to the public. VANOC was very adamant that sponsors should not be trying to pass off the tickets they purchased. They didn’t sign a sponsorship agreement so that they can scalp tickets. The sponsors are only allowed to sell to each other at face value,” Benson said.
The system was not budgeted for in the original Olympic contract with Tickets.com, explained Caley Denton, VANOC’s vice president for ticketing and consumer marketing. The fees on the consumer site are designed to help the platform pay for itself, and Denton said tickets can only be listed for up to 24 hours before an event.
“The message to the consumer is simple. If someone’s selling tickets outside of our Web site, people need to ask themselves why are they doing that and [question if that is a valid ticket],” Denton said during a press conference on Dec. 21. “We expect fairly high prices to start, as people test the market. Tickets will go quickly on the site, so people who are interested in a particular event should go fairly often.”
The other goal the new system achieves is striking a balance between sponsor tickets and public tickets. The goal was to have 70 percent of all tickets — and at least 30 percent of any event — available to the public. Allowing sponsors to consign tickets to the public through the site returns some high demand tickets into the hands of the public without a high-markup, said Dave Cobb, deputy CEO of the VANOC games, pointing out that the committee was also much more careful how sponsor tickets were allotted this year.
“We expect to have a minimum of 40 percent high demand tickets for each session [available to the public],” he said. “We think that’s a result of being very careful [during our review of ticket purchases] and making sure they are valid orders. That resulted in a significant reduction of tickets and provided 80,000 tickets more than we started with.”
If sponsors can’t trade or consign unwanted Olympic tickets, VANOC also has a site to donate the tickets to “children and families, Aboriginal peoples, and residents of Vancouver’s inner-city neighborhoods” through its Celebrate 2010 program. VANOC organizers hope to provide 50,000 free tickets to the public. Fans can donate their tickets for free on VANOC’s website, although Canadian law prevents them from writing off the tickets as a tax deduction.
By Dave Brooks
After years of opposing the resale of event tickets, the Vancouver Olympic Committee has introduced the first Olympic-sanctioned ticketing resale program. Powered by Tickets.com, the new system has separate tiers for consumers to sell tickets to other consumers, and an additional site for sponsors to trade and resell tickets to other sponsors.
For Canadian ticket buyers, the “fan-to-fan” marketplace at vancouver2010.com is designed to help fill empty seats and create a safe, reliable resale market where fans can sell their tickets without having to worry if they are stolen or counterfeit. Only Canadians who purchased their tickets through the VANOC system are allowed to list and sell tickets, although international visitors are allowed to view and purchase tickets.
“Obviously with any event out there, there is a secondary market, but we wanted to make sure we could keep control of it,” said Thomas Benson, director of Ticketing for Tickets.com’s Olympic operations. “Nothing is worse than somebody who shows up for the opening ceremonies and bought a ticket from a guy on the corner and it turns out the ticket is not valid after they shelled out $1,500. That’s pretty heart breaking. This is legitimate and it’s the only guaranteed way to get a ticket on the secondary market.”
The Olympic secondary marketplace will operate like most other sites — there will be no limits on price markup (although tickets can’t be sold below face), and like Tickets.com’s deal with StubHub and Major League Baseball, all tickets will be re-barcoded and reprinted for the buyer once the sale is complete. Secondary buyers will pick up their tickets from the will call window. VANOC will charge a 10-percent fee to both the seller and buyer for each transaction.
The VANOC team originally considered putting some limitations on how high a ticket could be marked up, but decided to scrap the caps.
“Basically we want to get as many people into the system as we can and as soon as you put a limit on it they go to Craigslist and sell their ticket because there is no limit there,” Benson said.
The other system announced was a platform for sponsors to sell and trade tickets to other sponsors. Unlike the consumer website, sponsors are not allowed to mark up the price of tickets, nor are they allowed to sell the tickets to the general public. If a sponsor has a difficult time filling a particular seat, they can consign the tickets to VANOC, which will place the inventory back into the primary market at no cost to the sponsor.
“Sponsors cannot directly sell to the public. VANOC was very adamant that sponsors should not be trying to pass off the tickets they purchased. They didn’t sign a sponsorship agreement so that they can scalp tickets. The sponsors are only allowed to sell to each other at face value,” Benson said.
The system was not budgeted for in the original Olympic contract with Tickets.com, explained Caley Denton, VANOC’s vice president for ticketing and consumer marketing. The fees on the consumer site are designed to help the platform pay for itself, and Denton said tickets can only be listed for up to 24 hours before an event.
“The message to the consumer is simple. If someone’s selling tickets outside of our Web site, people need to ask themselves why are they doing that and [question if that is a valid ticket],” Denton said during a press conference on Dec. 21. “We expect fairly high prices to start, as people test the market. Tickets will go quickly on the site, so people who are interested in a particular event should go fairly often.”
The other goal the new system achieves is striking a balance between sponsor tickets and public tickets. The goal was to have 70 percent of all tickets — and at least 30 percent of any event — available to the public. Allowing sponsors to consign tickets to the public through the site returns some high demand tickets into the hands of the public without a high-markup, said Dave Cobb, deputy CEO of the VANOC games, pointing out that the committee was also much more careful how sponsor tickets were allotted this year.
“We expect to have a minimum of 40 percent high demand tickets for each session [available to the public],” he said. “We think that’s a result of being very careful [during our review of ticket purchases] and making sure they are valid orders. That resulted in a significant reduction of tickets and provided 80,000 tickets more than we started with.”
If sponsors can’t trade or consign unwanted Olympic tickets, VANOC also has a site to donate the tickets to “children and families, Aboriginal peoples, and residents of Vancouver’s inner-city neighborhoods” through its Celebrate 2010 program. VANOC organizers hope to provide 50,000 free tickets to the public. Fans can donate their tickets for free on VANOC’s website, although Canadian law prevents them from writing off the tickets as a tax deduction.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thomas Benson: Venues Today Box Office Star
Gold Medal Performance
Tickets.com’s Tom Benson is a consummate pro when it comes to the Olympics
Venues Today
By Dave Brooks
For Thomas Benson, the Olympics aren’t just another sporting event — they’re a way of life.
The ticketing veteran has worked three of the last four Olympiads and will be managing box office operations for Tickets.com during the 21st Winter Olympiad from Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. Benson will oversee the sale and allocation of 1.6 million tickets for 15 separate venues and 86 sporting events.
“If you put a concert on sale, even if you have 10 nights, people are coming to buy one thing. They get in and get out. With this someone comes in and spends 45 minutes shopping because they don’t know what all the different sports are during the last two weeks. There are a lot of decisions to make and tickets are pricey,” said Benson, among winners of this year’s Venues Today Box Office Stars Awards.
Benson’s main task is to manage Tickets.com’s relationship with the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC). Besides being the official ticketing provider, Tickets.com is also a sponsor of the games.
“We are in charge of setting up all of the box offices at all of the venues and hiring a couple hundred people to staff them,” said Benson. “We actually opened a call center up here in Vancouver, so that we could have French speakers and people that are familiar with the area.”
This is the first Olympics for which Tickets.com is implementing access control at every venue with hand scanners and bar-coded tickets. All box office managers will report directly to Benson, and the Tickets.com team plans to bring up several American box office managers to help with the games, including Debra Duncan, the director of ticketing for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“We’ve got a number of people like that who have done it and loved it and are coming back,” Benson said.
Benson got his start working at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The University of Utah grad was hired after spending several years working with ArtTix. He came back four years later to work the winter games in Torino, Italy.
“I was still in college at the time I started; it was my last year. It was kind of a big deal, especially being from Utah,” Benson said. “Salt Lake was a challenge because it was the first time the Internet was really a force in ticketing. We sold some ridiculous percentage of our tickets online there, 90 percent I think. That was kind of a first.”
Benson said one of the biggest challenges with the Winter Games is that most tickets are sold well before the venues are completed, so ticketing personnel don’t get a lot of information about how their venues will be configured.
“You don’t really know what your inventory is going to look like, but you have to put them on sale anyway,” Benson said.
When Benson is not working for one of the Olympic Games, he handles special projects for Tickets.com. After the Salt Lake games, he spent some time working with the Cleveland Indians, before moving to Virginia and later to Huntington Beach, Calif., just a few miles from the Tickets.com office. He said he gets a rush working the Olympic Games — when competitor Ticketmaster won the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, Benson took a temporary position with Coca-Cola so he could be part of one of the games.
“Each host city is totally different,” Benson said. “In Torino there were a lot of people who bought late. They procrastinated and they didn’t really get excited until the Olympics started. We went into the games with a lot of walk up inventory. [In Vancouver] people are pretty excited about it. Anytime there is release of any tickets, they get snapped up pretty quickly.”
A lot of people ask him, “‘Why were you there two years before, how hard can it be to sell tickets?’ It’s a big deal. It takes a whole lot of planning to put together something as big as the Olympics in such a short amount of time,” he said.
While he’s in Canada, Benson is also expected to do some business development. The 2010 games are the biggest deployment yet for Tickets.com’s new ProVenue system, a powerful ticketing solution developed to compete against Ticketmaster and Veritix.
“We are hoping to leverage this to get more business in Canada and get more people familiar with our system,” Benson said. “Some of the box office managers we have coming in say they applied for the job so they could see us and get to know our system better. We are excited about that.”
For the first time, the Olympic committee is creating a secondary marketplace to allow both fans and sponsors to resell tickets. Benson said his company is also offering a consignment program for unsold sponsor tickets.
“Sponsors can go back online and consign them to us and we will sell them — online or at the box office. When they do sell, we will credit the client back. It’s basically them giving back the tickets and if they re-sell, we give them a credit.”
Benson said the goal is to get spectators into the best seats. He noted that during the Beijing Games, there were thousands of empty seats at every venue because many sponsor would over order tickets.
“And you had people who would give their right eye just to see anything and they were lined up down the street,” said Benson. “It’s not fair to the athletes who worked so hard to get there and would like to have a full stand cheering them on.”
Tickets.com’s Tom Benson is a consummate pro when it comes to the Olympics
Venues Today
By Dave Brooks
For Thomas Benson, the Olympics aren’t just another sporting event — they’re a way of life.
The ticketing veteran has worked three of the last four Olympiads and will be managing box office operations for Tickets.com during the 21st Winter Olympiad from Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. Benson will oversee the sale and allocation of 1.6 million tickets for 15 separate venues and 86 sporting events.
“If you put a concert on sale, even if you have 10 nights, people are coming to buy one thing. They get in and get out. With this someone comes in and spends 45 minutes shopping because they don’t know what all the different sports are during the last two weeks. There are a lot of decisions to make and tickets are pricey,” said Benson, among winners of this year’s Venues Today Box Office Stars Awards.
Benson’s main task is to manage Tickets.com’s relationship with the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC). Besides being the official ticketing provider, Tickets.com is also a sponsor of the games.
“We are in charge of setting up all of the box offices at all of the venues and hiring a couple hundred people to staff them,” said Benson. “We actually opened a call center up here in Vancouver, so that we could have French speakers and people that are familiar with the area.”
This is the first Olympics for which Tickets.com is implementing access control at every venue with hand scanners and bar-coded tickets. All box office managers will report directly to Benson, and the Tickets.com team plans to bring up several American box office managers to help with the games, including Debra Duncan, the director of ticketing for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“We’ve got a number of people like that who have done it and loved it and are coming back,” Benson said.
Benson got his start working at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The University of Utah grad was hired after spending several years working with ArtTix. He came back four years later to work the winter games in Torino, Italy.
“I was still in college at the time I started; it was my last year. It was kind of a big deal, especially being from Utah,” Benson said. “Salt Lake was a challenge because it was the first time the Internet was really a force in ticketing. We sold some ridiculous percentage of our tickets online there, 90 percent I think. That was kind of a first.”
Benson said one of the biggest challenges with the Winter Games is that most tickets are sold well before the venues are completed, so ticketing personnel don’t get a lot of information about how their venues will be configured.
“You don’t really know what your inventory is going to look like, but you have to put them on sale anyway,” Benson said.
When Benson is not working for one of the Olympic Games, he handles special projects for Tickets.com. After the Salt Lake games, he spent some time working with the Cleveland Indians, before moving to Virginia and later to Huntington Beach, Calif., just a few miles from the Tickets.com office. He said he gets a rush working the Olympic Games — when competitor Ticketmaster won the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, Benson took a temporary position with Coca-Cola so he could be part of one of the games.
“Each host city is totally different,” Benson said. “In Torino there were a lot of people who bought late. They procrastinated and they didn’t really get excited until the Olympics started. We went into the games with a lot of walk up inventory. [In Vancouver] people are pretty excited about it. Anytime there is release of any tickets, they get snapped up pretty quickly.”
A lot of people ask him, “‘Why were you there two years before, how hard can it be to sell tickets?’ It’s a big deal. It takes a whole lot of planning to put together something as big as the Olympics in such a short amount of time,” he said.
While he’s in Canada, Benson is also expected to do some business development. The 2010 games are the biggest deployment yet for Tickets.com’s new ProVenue system, a powerful ticketing solution developed to compete against Ticketmaster and Veritix.
“We are hoping to leverage this to get more business in Canada and get more people familiar with our system,” Benson said. “Some of the box office managers we have coming in say they applied for the job so they could see us and get to know our system better. We are excited about that.”
For the first time, the Olympic committee is creating a secondary marketplace to allow both fans and sponsors to resell tickets. Benson said his company is also offering a consignment program for unsold sponsor tickets.
“Sponsors can go back online and consign them to us and we will sell them — online or at the box office. When they do sell, we will credit the client back. It’s basically them giving back the tickets and if they re-sell, we give them a credit.”
Benson said the goal is to get spectators into the best seats. He noted that during the Beijing Games, there were thousands of empty seats at every venue because many sponsor would over order tickets.
“And you had people who would give their right eye just to see anything and they were lined up down the street,” said Benson. “It’s not fair to the athletes who worked so hard to get there and would like to have a full stand cheering them on.”
Monday, June 8, 2009
Vancouver 2010 Olympics ticket sales soar
Sports Features Communications
LAURA WALDEN
TAMPA, Jun. 07: Vancouver Olympic organizers report stellar ticket sales for the second allotment that was made available on Saturday. The men’s gold medal hockey final was the first to sell out with the 1,000 tickets getting snatched up in mere minutes.
Opening Ceremony tickets, speed skating and figure skating were next in line among the first tickets flying out the doors for events. Preliminary Ice hockey, curling and the victory ceremonies tickets are still available.
Canadians submitted orders from every province and territory in record numbers, with more than 22,000 requests for 130,000 tickets processed in the first four hours.
"We anticipated demand would be high for tickets, and the level of interest we saw today was very exciting and, once again, a testament to the pride and support Canadians continue to show in being part of Canada's Games in 2010," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing.
"Thanks to the incredible work by our partner tickets.com, our system performed as planned on the technical side. After 10 am Saturday, our www.vancouver2010.com website experienced traffic of more than 1,300 hits per second and by noon had set a record for page views at more than 5 million."
Denton added, "The virtual waiting room system worked well and helped manage traffic demand on our site effectively while keeping the process fair for consumers."
Fans looking to purchase tickets for the Paralympics Winter Games will be able to buy online at www.vancouver2010.com in the coming days as they are temporarily unavailable at the moment.
According to an update late January this year organizers project ticket sales at $260M for all the events.
Warnings have been made public about purchasing through unofficial channels. The only official sources for Canadians to buy Olympic tickets are www.vancouver2010.com and through official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners Jet Set Sports and CoSport.
Vancouver organizers will also launch a third, smaller phase of ticket sales this fall.
LAURA WALDEN
TAMPA, Jun. 07: Vancouver Olympic organizers report stellar ticket sales for the second allotment that was made available on Saturday. The men’s gold medal hockey final was the first to sell out with the 1,000 tickets getting snatched up in mere minutes.
Opening Ceremony tickets, speed skating and figure skating were next in line among the first tickets flying out the doors for events. Preliminary Ice hockey, curling and the victory ceremonies tickets are still available.
Canadians submitted orders from every province and territory in record numbers, with more than 22,000 requests for 130,000 tickets processed in the first four hours.
"We anticipated demand would be high for tickets, and the level of interest we saw today was very exciting and, once again, a testament to the pride and support Canadians continue to show in being part of Canada's Games in 2010," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing.
"Thanks to the incredible work by our partner tickets.com, our system performed as planned on the technical side. After 10 am Saturday, our www.vancouver2010.com website experienced traffic of more than 1,300 hits per second and by noon had set a record for page views at more than 5 million."
Denton added, "The virtual waiting room system worked well and helped manage traffic demand on our site effectively while keeping the process fair for consumers."
Fans looking to purchase tickets for the Paralympics Winter Games will be able to buy online at www.vancouver2010.com in the coming days as they are temporarily unavailable at the moment.
According to an update late January this year organizers project ticket sales at $260M for all the events.
Warnings have been made public about purchasing through unofficial channels. The only official sources for Canadians to buy Olympic tickets are www.vancouver2010.com and through official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners Jet Set Sports and CoSport.
Vancouver organizers will also launch a third, smaller phase of ticket sales this fall.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Over 150,000 tickets to Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games up for sale June 6
Canadians can still purchase tickets to all events, including gold medal ice hockey, curling and ceremonies
VANCOUVER, May 29 /CNW/ - Canadians hoping to land dream tickets to an Olympic ice hockey showdown or the emotional spectacle of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will have another opportunity to secure tickets starting at 10:00 am (Pacific Time) Saturday, June 6 when the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) releases more than 150,000 tickets for sale to the public at www.vancouver2010.com.
Tickets for every sporting event, as well as the Opening, Closing and nightly Victory Ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Games will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
"This is a major release of tickets before the 2010 Winter Games, and is the best remaining opportunity for Canadian Olympic fans to get their hands on tickets," said Caley Denton, vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing for VANOC. "We want to make sure everyone's ready on Saturday morning, so take a minute to register a ticketing account if you don't already have one and have a look at the schedules ahead of time. Whether you're an ice hockey or a biathlon fan, or love the drama and colour of the ceremonies, tickets to every event will be available. We've worked hard to make as many tickets available as possible, and based on the enthusiasm shown by Canadians we anticipate demand will be high."
In addition to the more than 150,000 competition and Opening and Closing Ceremonies tickets, this marks the first time thousands of Victory Ceremony tickets will be available as single tickets for $22. Previously they could only be purchased through the bundled Olympic Experience Packages available in the first round of sales. The nightly ceremonies at BC Place in downtown Vancouver will pay tribute to the medal-winning athletes as the International Olympic Committee recognizes the day's accomplishments. Following the medal presentations, the athletes' triumphs will be honoured with a celebration concert featuring renowned entertainers.
On June 6, ticket customers visiting www.vancouver2010.com will be directed to a virtual waiting room, where they will be randomly selected to enter the Vancouver 2010 ticketing website. Once signed into their account, customers will be able to purchase up to four separate events, with a limit of four tickets per event. If a customer wants to order more than the limit of six events, they will need to start a new transaction.
Helpful tips:
-------------
- To save time, previously registered customers are advised to sign
into their ticketing account at www.vancouver2010.com before June 6
to ensure their username and password are up-to-date and functional.
- New customers without an existing account can save time by pre-
registering an account before June 6.
- The Competition Schedule, including the draws for the ice hockey
tournaments for the Games and ticket prices, is posted on
www.vancouver2010.com to make it easier for customers to plan their
ticket-buying strategy ahead of time.
- VANOC reminds customers that Visa is the only payment card accepted.
- Customers will also have the option to select an offline payment
and mail in a cheque.
- Entry to the system is random - refreshing the web page will not
reduce your wait time.
- Plan ahead for purchases and ensure you have sufficient credit
available in your account as purchases will be charged immediately.
- Be wary of tickets offered for sale through unofficial channels. The
only official sources for Canadians for tickets to the Vancouver 2010
Olympic Winter Games are www.vancouver2010.com (in partnership with VANOC's official ticketing services supplier Tickets.com) and
official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners Jet Set Sports and
CoSport.
- Be vigilant about individuals or companies offering "guaranteed"
tickets for sale. For most people, even a "money-back" guarantee
is little consolation for the disappointment, inconvenience and
embarrassment they will experience if they discover at the gate
that their ticket is invalid.
- Customers may also purchase tickets by phone at 1.800.TICKETS
(1.800.842.5387), and a TDD/TTY service is available for persons who
are deaf or hard of hearing at 604.629.7140.
Background
Beginning on October 3, 2008 the Canadian public was invited to submit requests for tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Within a month, Canadian residents had submitted requests for more than $345 million in tickets. This overwhelming response was 4.5 times greater than the first phase of ticketing sales for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games ($75 million over nine weeks), the most recent Olympic Games held in North America. As a result, approximately 120 of 170 ticketed sessions for the 2010 Winter Games were allocated by lottery.
On December 12, 2008, remaining tickets from this first phase allotment were re-released for sale exclusively to ticket buyers who had participated in the initial ticket-request period; the remaining inventory was sold that day.
Earlier this month, VANOC opened the sale of tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Strong demand saw all available inventory to the gold medal ice sledge hockey game sold on the first day. Paralympic Games tickets will be available until June 5, but will be temporarily unavailable for purchase during Phase 2 of Olympic Games ticket sales.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
For further information: Media Contact: Jason Macnaughton, Vancouver
2010, (604) 403-2734, jason_macnaughton@vancouver2010.com.
VANCOUVER, May 29 /CNW/ - Canadians hoping to land dream tickets to an Olympic ice hockey showdown or the emotional spectacle of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will have another opportunity to secure tickets starting at 10:00 am (Pacific Time) Saturday, June 6 when the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) releases more than 150,000 tickets for sale to the public at www.vancouver2010.com.
Tickets for every sporting event, as well as the Opening, Closing and nightly Victory Ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Games will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
"This is a major release of tickets before the 2010 Winter Games, and is the best remaining opportunity for Canadian Olympic fans to get their hands on tickets," said Caley Denton, vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing for VANOC. "We want to make sure everyone's ready on Saturday morning, so take a minute to register a ticketing account if you don't already have one and have a look at the schedules ahead of time. Whether you're an ice hockey or a biathlon fan, or love the drama and colour of the ceremonies, tickets to every event will be available. We've worked hard to make as many tickets available as possible, and based on the enthusiasm shown by Canadians we anticipate demand will be high."
In addition to the more than 150,000 competition and Opening and Closing Ceremonies tickets, this marks the first time thousands of Victory Ceremony tickets will be available as single tickets for $22. Previously they could only be purchased through the bundled Olympic Experience Packages available in the first round of sales. The nightly ceremonies at BC Place in downtown Vancouver will pay tribute to the medal-winning athletes as the International Olympic Committee recognizes the day's accomplishments. Following the medal presentations, the athletes' triumphs will be honoured with a celebration concert featuring renowned entertainers.
On June 6, ticket customers visiting www.vancouver2010.com will be directed to a virtual waiting room, where they will be randomly selected to enter the Vancouver 2010 ticketing website. Once signed into their account, customers will be able to purchase up to four separate events, with a limit of four tickets per event. If a customer wants to order more than the limit of six events, they will need to start a new transaction.
Helpful tips:
-------------
- To save time, previously registered customers are advised to sign
into their ticketing account at www.vancouver2010.com before June 6
to ensure their username and password are up-to-date and functional.
- New customers without an existing account can save time by pre-
registering an account before June 6.
- The Competition Schedule, including the draws for the ice hockey
tournaments for the Games and ticket prices, is posted on
www.vancouver2010.com to make it easier for customers to plan their
ticket-buying strategy ahead of time.
- VANOC reminds customers that Visa is the only payment card accepted.
- Customers will also have the option to select an offline payment
and mail in a cheque.
- Entry to the system is random - refreshing the web page will not
reduce your wait time.
- Plan ahead for purchases and ensure you have sufficient credit
available in your account as purchases will be charged immediately.
- Be wary of tickets offered for sale through unofficial channels. The
only official sources for Canadians for tickets to the Vancouver 2010
Olympic Winter Games are www.vancouver2010.com (in partnership with VANOC's official ticketing services supplier Tickets.com) and
official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners Jet Set Sports and
CoSport.
- Be vigilant about individuals or companies offering "guaranteed"
tickets for sale. For most people, even a "money-back" guarantee
is little consolation for the disappointment, inconvenience and
embarrassment they will experience if they discover at the gate
that their ticket is invalid.
- Customers may also purchase tickets by phone at 1.800.TICKETS
(1.800.842.5387), and a TDD/TTY service is available for persons who
are deaf or hard of hearing at 604.629.7140.
Background
Beginning on October 3, 2008 the Canadian public was invited to submit requests for tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Within a month, Canadian residents had submitted requests for more than $345 million in tickets. This overwhelming response was 4.5 times greater than the first phase of ticketing sales for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games ($75 million over nine weeks), the most recent Olympic Games held in North America. As a result, approximately 120 of 170 ticketed sessions for the 2010 Winter Games were allocated by lottery.
On December 12, 2008, remaining tickets from this first phase allotment were re-released for sale exclusively to ticket buyers who had participated in the initial ticket-request period; the remaining inventory was sold that day.
Earlier this month, VANOC opened the sale of tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Strong demand saw all available inventory to the gold medal ice sledge hockey game sold on the first day. Paralympic Games tickets will be available until June 5, but will be temporarily unavailable for purchase during Phase 2 of Olympic Games ticket sales.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
For further information: Media Contact: Jason Macnaughton, Vancouver
2010, (604) 403-2734, jason_macnaughton@vancouver2010.com.
Monday, May 4, 2009
If a ticket could inspire your life, would you buy one?
Ticket sales for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games open this Wednesday, May 6 at www.vancouver2010.com; prices start at $10 for groups
VANCOUVER, May 1 /CNW/ - The best way to share in one of the world's most inspirational sporting events is to see all the action in person at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Tickets to the Paralympic Winter Games, which are affordably priced for families and groups, go on sale to Canadian residents this Wednesday, May 6 at 10 am PT at www.vancouver2010.com.
Approximately a quarter of a million tickets to the 64 medal competitions and ceremony events at the Paralympic Winter Games will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.vancouver2010.com, in partnership with Tickets.com, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games' (VANOC) official supplier of ticketing services. The Paralympic Winter Games feature five sports including: ice sledge hockey, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling and biathlon.
Individual ticket prices to sport events start at $15. Group ticket prices - available for most sport events for groups of 20 or more people - are just $10. More than 70 per cent per cent of all individual tickets are priced at $20 or less. Ticket prices for the spectacular Opening Ceremony at BC Place range from $30 to $175.
"Without question the Paralympic Winter Games are one of the most exceptional values in sports and entertainment," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice-president of ticketing and consumer marketing. "There's something indefinable about attending an event in person with friends and family that goes far beyond the memories of the results of the competition itself," continued Denton. "Spectators will leave having witnessed first-hand the determination and courage of some of the world's finest athletes - and that will stay with people forever."
One of the defining and most emotional moments of the international sporting event will be the Opening Ceremony on March 12, 2010. A cast of thousands, with a particular emphasis on performers with a disability, will delight a live audience and showcase the unique heritage and creativity of British Columbians and Canadians during the two-hour celebration produced by Canada's own Patrick Roberge Productions. The highlight of the night will be the lighting of the Paralympic Cauldron, signalling the official start of the Games.
About the Paralympic ticket purchasing process:
A national print and online advertising campaign for ticket sales to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will start this weekend. A special Paralympic-themed supplement, featuring stories, athlete bios, in-depth information on ticketing, and the entire sport schedule, will be issued in The Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers on May 9 and May 10.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
VANCOUVER, May 1 /CNW/ - The best way to share in one of the world's most inspirational sporting events is to see all the action in person at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Tickets to the Paralympic Winter Games, which are affordably priced for families and groups, go on sale to Canadian residents this Wednesday, May 6 at 10 am PT at www.vancouver2010.com.
Approximately a quarter of a million tickets to the 64 medal competitions and ceremony events at the Paralympic Winter Games will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.vancouver2010.com, in partnership with Tickets.com, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games' (VANOC) official supplier of ticketing services. The Paralympic Winter Games feature five sports including: ice sledge hockey, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling and biathlon.
Individual ticket prices to sport events start at $15. Group ticket prices - available for most sport events for groups of 20 or more people - are just $10. More than 70 per cent per cent of all individual tickets are priced at $20 or less. Ticket prices for the spectacular Opening Ceremony at BC Place range from $30 to $175.
"Without question the Paralympic Winter Games are one of the most exceptional values in sports and entertainment," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice-president of ticketing and consumer marketing. "There's something indefinable about attending an event in person with friends and family that goes far beyond the memories of the results of the competition itself," continued Denton. "Spectators will leave having witnessed first-hand the determination and courage of some of the world's finest athletes - and that will stay with people forever."
One of the defining and most emotional moments of the international sporting event will be the Opening Ceremony on March 12, 2010. A cast of thousands, with a particular emphasis on performers with a disability, will delight a live audience and showcase the unique heritage and creativity of British Columbians and Canadians during the two-hour celebration produced by Canada's own Patrick Roberge Productions. The highlight of the night will be the lighting of the Paralympic Cauldron, signalling the official start of the Games.
About the Paralympic ticket purchasing process:
- Tickets will go on sale at www.vancouver2010.com on May 6 at 10 am PT on a first-come, first-served basis.
- In the event the site experiences a high volume of traffic, a 'virtual waiting room' system will be implemented.
- Where applicable, Canadian residents should use their existing Olympic ticketing accounts to log on to purchase tickets.
- In the event a customer has ordered Olympic tickets, their Paralympic and Olympic tickets will be delivered at the same time securely by Purolator Courier in late 2009. The delivery fee paid for the delivery of Olympic tickets will cover the delivery of Paralympic tickets.
- Visa is the exclusive payment card.
- On checkout, customers will have the option to add the following items to their order:
- An exclusive collector-grade pin featuring Paralympic mascot Sumi with his 2010 Winter Games tickets along with a commemorative lanyard and ticket holder pouch to keep tickets secure and easily accessible
- The Official Commemorative Book of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games at a 30% discount
- A donation to support Canadian athletes via the Own The Podium program.
- A full range of information on sport disciplines, events and ticket prices is available at www.vancouver2010.com.
- International residents should contact their respective National Paralympic Committee for information on purchasing tickets.
A national print and online advertising campaign for ticket sales to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will start this weekend. A special Paralympic-themed supplement, featuring stories, athlete bios, in-depth information on ticketing, and the entire sport schedule, will be issued in The Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers on May 9 and May 10.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
Monday, December 15, 2008
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.
(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.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tickets.com Client Spotlight: Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games tickets confirmed today for Canadians; ice hockey, curling and snowboard tickets still available
VANCOUVER, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - After five long weeks of patiently waiting, Canadians who requested 2010 Olympic Winter Games tickets in Phase 1 will find out today what tickets they have secured, and can start planning what additional tickets they'll look for when the Priority Access Period opens from December 12-22.
An e-mail sent today from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) will invite each account holder to log on to their ticket account at www.vancouver2010.com and view the result of their request. These same ticket buyers will also have the exclusive right to buy remaining tickets on a first-come, first-served basis beginning this Friday, December 12 at 9:00 am (Pacific Time). Any tickets remaining after this period, plus any tickets released from the contingency and any remaining Victory Ceremony tickets, will go on sale to the public in mid-2009. VANOC will begin selling tickets to the Paralympic Winter Games on May 6, 2009.
While demand for the majority of sports meant that many sessions were allocated by lottery, there are still tickets remaining, including tickets to preliminary sessions for high-demand sports such as ice hockey and curling. With competitions such as ice hockey, large-capacity venues such as Canada Hockey Place will allow a large number of fans to experience the thrill of seeing elite athletes compete at the highest level, as the shorter tournament competition format ensures every match holds particular significance as competitors vie to finish high in the standings to earn important rest days.
Along with the confirmation of ticket orders today, VANOC issued a reminder to fans to be wary of tickets offered for sale through channels other than www.vancouver2010.com (in partnership with VANOC's official ticketing services supplier tickets.com) and official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners JetSet Sports and CoSport.
"We encourage everyone to be vigilant about individuals or companies offering "guaranteed" tickets for sale. For most people even a "money back" guarantee is little consolation for the disappointment, inconvenience and embarrassment they'll experience if they discover at the gate their ticket is invalid," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice-president ticketing and consumer marketing. "We are continuing to work with our partner 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 our bar code technology has confirmed the tickets are legitimate."
Details on VANOC's official ticket resale market will be announced later in 2009; however, until then, VANOC's website www.vancouver2010.com or its official hospitality partners, JetSet Sports and CoSport, are the only Canadian sources where people can be confident their 2010 Winter Games tickets are authentic.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
VANCOUVER, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - After five long weeks of patiently waiting, Canadians who requested 2010 Olympic Winter Games tickets in Phase 1 will find out today what tickets they have secured, and can start planning what additional tickets they'll look for when the Priority Access Period opens from December 12-22.
An e-mail sent today from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) will invite each account holder to log on to their ticket account at www.vancouver2010.com and view the result of their request. These same ticket buyers will also have the exclusive right to buy remaining tickets on a first-come, first-served basis beginning this Friday, December 12 at 9:00 am (Pacific Time). Any tickets remaining after this period, plus any tickets released from the contingency and any remaining Victory Ceremony tickets, will go on sale to the public in mid-2009. VANOC will begin selling tickets to the Paralympic Winter Games on May 6, 2009.
While demand for the majority of sports meant that many sessions were allocated by lottery, there are still tickets remaining, including tickets to preliminary sessions for high-demand sports such as ice hockey and curling. With competitions such as ice hockey, large-capacity venues such as Canada Hockey Place will allow a large number of fans to experience the thrill of seeing elite athletes compete at the highest level, as the shorter tournament competition format ensures every match holds particular significance as competitors vie to finish high in the standings to earn important rest days.
Along with the confirmation of ticket orders today, VANOC issued a reminder to fans to be wary of tickets offered for sale through channels other than www.vancouver2010.com (in partnership with VANOC's official ticketing services supplier tickets.com) and official 2010 Winter Games hospitality partners JetSet Sports and CoSport.
"We encourage everyone to be vigilant about individuals or companies offering "guaranteed" tickets for sale. For most people even a "money back" guarantee is little consolation for the disappointment, inconvenience and embarrassment they'll experience if they discover at the gate their ticket is invalid," said Caley Denton, VANOC vice-president ticketing and consumer marketing. "We are continuing to work with our partner 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 our bar code technology has confirmed the tickets are legitimate."
Details on VANOC's official ticket resale market will be announced later in 2009; however, until then, VANOC's website www.vancouver2010.com or its official hospitality partners, JetSet Sports and CoSport, are the only Canadian sources where people can be confident their 2010 Winter Games tickets are authentic.
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 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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.
Learn more >
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.
Learn more >
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tickets.com and VANOC Exceed Expectations During First Phase of Ticketing for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games
Tickets.com, a leading global provider of integrated ticketing solutions, is the Official Supplier of ticketing services for the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. In association with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), Tickets.com has activated the ProVenue® Ticket Management System (PV-TMS), which supports all aspects of the ticket sales process, including the Olympic ticket request and lottery programs, ticket sales for Olympic and Paralympic events, the ticket management and auction programs, ticket printing and fulfillment, and staffing and management of all Games-time ticket offices.
The Phase 1 Request Period was open to Canadian residents from October 3 through November 7 at www.vancouver2010.com. With the goal of ensuring efficient and fair ticket distribution under large request volumes, Tickets.com incorporated the PV-TMS technologies and first-class customer service, giving Canadians nationwide the only opportunity to obtain tickets for all competitions and ceremonies, including the most popular events.
"The unique needs, massive volume and security concerns that factor into Olympic ticketing are challenges we've had the privilege of addressing with best-in-class solutions since Atlanta over a decade ago," said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive officer, Tickets.com. "In terms of volume, Vancouver presented a unique challenge; compared to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, in phase one alone Vancouver has already had two times the total tickets requested."
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games ticket requests by the numbers:
In total, approximately 1.6 million tickets will be sold for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and 250,000 for the Paralympic Games (which go on sale May 6, 2009). Ticket prices for Olympic sports events range from $25 to $775, with over 50% of them priced at $100 or less. Admission for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies ranges from $175 to $1,100.
Read more >
The Phase 1 Request Period was open to Canadian residents from October 3 through November 7 at www.vancouver2010.com. With the goal of ensuring efficient and fair ticket distribution under large request volumes, Tickets.com incorporated the PV-TMS technologies and first-class customer service, giving Canadians nationwide the only opportunity to obtain tickets for all competitions and ceremonies, including the most popular events.
"The unique needs, massive volume and security concerns that factor into Olympic ticketing are challenges we've had the privilege of addressing with best-in-class solutions since Atlanta over a decade ago," said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive officer, Tickets.com. "In terms of volume, Vancouver presented a unique challenge; compared to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, in phase one alone Vancouver has already had two times the total tickets requested."
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games ticket requests by the numbers:
- Total value of tickets requested by Canadian residents from October 3 to November 7: $345 million
- An estimated 120 of 170 sessions will be allocated by lottery
- Dollar value of requests submitted on November 7 alone was 182 percent of the total dollar value of tickets allocated during phase one of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games
- 18.4 million page views from October 3 to November 7
- More than 3.5 million page views on November 7 alone
In total, approximately 1.6 million tickets will be sold for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and 250,000 for the Paralympic Games (which go on sale May 6, 2009). Ticket prices for Olympic sports events range from $25 to $775, with over 50% of them priced at $100 or less. Admission for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies ranges from $175 to $1,100.
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