Nov 14, 2008 (Vancouver, BC) – After weeks of deliberations at kitchen tables across Canada, Olympic enthusiasts submitted more than $345 million in requests for tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. As of this past Friday, November 7, the final day of the Request Period of Phase 1, an estimated 120 of 170 ticketed sessions were oversubscribed due to demand exceeding the available tickets.

In terms of dollars, Canadians have already requested approximately four and a half times the value of tickets in Phase 1 for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games ($345 million over five weeks), compared to the first phase of ticketing ($75 million over nine weeks) for the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the most recent Olympic Games held in North America.

“Canadians are clearly not only excited to welcome the world, but are also excited to be here in person to witness the thrill of competition in 2010,” said Caley Denton, vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “For many people, submitting a request for tickets drives home the realization that we are now less than 15 months away from hosting one of the most anticipated events in the world.”

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
– Value of tickets requested on November 7 alone: $135 million
– An estimated 120 of 170 sessions will be allocated by lottery
– The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as all figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating and men’s ice hockey (from quarter-finals onward) are among the sessions that will go to lottery
– More than 140,000 tickets were requested for the men’s gold medal hockey game
– More than 41,000 tickets were requested for the women’s gold medal hockey game
– More than 84,000 tickets were requested for the Opening Ceremony
– More than 27,000 tickets were requested for the men’s halfpipe snowboard session
– More than 34,000 tickets were requested for the short track speed skating session, which includes the men’s 500-metre final, the ladies’ 1,000-metre final and the men’s 5,000-metre relay final
– More than 10,200 tickets were requested for the men’s four-man bobsleigh final
– More than 19,800 tickets were requested for the men’s gold medal curling

Vancouver2010.com by the numbers:

– 18.4 million page views from October 3 to November 7
– More than 3.5 million page views on November 7 alone
– The three busiest days in the history of the website were the last two days of the Request Period (November 6 and 7) as well as the
first day (October 3)

“Since the Games were awarded in 2003, Canadians have waited patiently to request tickets – ensuring we were able to accept their requests fairly and securely was of the utmost importance to us,” noted Denton. “The online ordering system developed by our partner Tickets.com handled extraordinary volumes leading up to and including our final day, and performed just as we knew it would. Canadians should feel secure that their requests are being processed with the utmost attention to fairness and accuracy.”

“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 1 alone Vancouver has already had two times the applications, and two times the total tickets requested. The dollar value of the requests submitted on the final day alone was approximately 182 per cent of the total dollar value of tickets requested for the entire Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games [over a nine-week application period].”

Next Steps

Tickets that were not purchased during the initial Request Period will be re-released for sale exclusively to Canadian residents who submitted a request during the Request Period – called the Priority Access Period. Running from December 8 to December 22, the Priority Access Period will offer account holders an opportunity to purchase additional tickets before they are again made available to the wider Canadian public. Tickets remaining after this period will go on sale to the public on a first-come, first-served basis in 2009.

VANOC will begin selling tickets to the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games on May 6, 2009. A number of Sport Events will also be held in Vancouver and Whistler over the coming year. These events will offer spectators the opportunity to witness many of the athletes and sports that will take place during the 2010 Winter Games, and to familiarize themselves with sports that may be new to them – all at an outstanding value.

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.