1.2 million people found themselves without Olympic tickets today following the public ballot.
Sebastian Coe said he completely understood the disappointment, particularly as members of the public have injected £12 billion into the cost of the games: “We recognise that the massive demand for tickets has meant that many sports fans were disappointed not to receive tickets in the initial application,” he said.
A second phase of selling will begin next Friday, when 2.3 million of the total 6.6 million (Olympic chiefs have revealed this is actually closer to 5.5 million) will be sold. However, the majority of these are likely to be for events such as hockey or football. Locog, Sebastian Coe’s organising committee is concerned that members of the public will be put off by the low results of the first sale.
Editor of Which? Money, James Daley said: “This reinforces the fact that the system used has been a farce and has been unfair to millions who have missed out, while a lot of people have got tickets to multiple events.”
Lord Coe urged fans to re-apply saying that those applicants who missed out on tickets in the first round will get priority in the second round. “There are over two million Olympic tickets still available at a wide range of prices and our objective is to get as many of the original applicants to the Games as possible,” he said.
Released pricing figures show 1.5 million tickets at £50 or less, one million at £20 or less. Locog announced that most applications were for four to five tickets totalling £275. The ceremonies, cycling, gymnastics, diving, and swimming events are already sold out.
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