[Citizen J]

Tickets for the London Olympic games go on sale today. For anyone interested you have between now and April 26th to make your application. (There is no advantage for applying early)

Prices are ridiculous and they are being sold in 1 hour 45 minutes slots . So anyone who wants to go and see multiple events will have an absolutely fortune to pay.

The best tickets for the men's 100m final are £725 (Sunday 5th August 2012). Considering this is a 10 second race it's an absolutely joke

Search events


As a keen follower of athletics the pricing structure is very disappointing.

God knows how much food is going to cost

Official website for London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games tickets

[daveaka]

Those prices are absolutely ridiculous. As a keen athlete myself I will be watching the Olympics in front of the TV with a few beers and a very big bag of crisps.

[davidegee]

any purchases made in the stadium have to be made with cash or visa. No other cards will be accepted. The same applies for purchasing tickets. Ridiculous..

[guest5234]

Rip off, sod london and the boring olympics.

[NoMansLand]

Yeah, I think I'll watch it from the comfort of my sofa...with the windows open to get that "open air" feeling.

Sod paying some of those prices.

[7ofnine]

Originally Posted by davidegee

any purchases made in the stadium have to be made with cash or visa. No other cards will be accepted. The same applies for purchasing tickets. Ridiculous..

Count me out then. I don't have a Visa card, and I'm not carrying bucket loads of cash around.

[nheather]

Don't think I will be going either.

Another thing that struck me as bad, is that I could find no clear definition of what constitutes an A, B, C, D seat. I did find a vague 'obvious' statement that A seating gives a better view than D, but couldn't find any more.

There should be a clear map of each venue, showing in general where the A, B, C and D areas are. And an indication of the size of the venue so you can guage how far you would be from the event.

When I go to the theatre or a sports arena I expect to see a plan so I can decide how much I am preapred to pay and where I will sit.

As it is I have no idea of whether a 'D' seat is worth it - will I be able to see the event or will I have to resort to watching the screen (I can do that at home).

Cheers,

Nigel

[Mr_Wistles]

I think the boxing and the basketball are superb value for money when you compare them to other events.

Half decent tickets at the recent NBA games at the O2 were going to cost you £200. For less than that you can go to the final. Alternatively pay £50 and see two of the quarter final games.

Same with the boxing, decent seats at a Hatton / Haye fight would cost you upwards of £300 for anything decent. For half that you can see 5 finals!!

[nheather]

I think it is good that oversubscribed events will be drawn as a lottery - so it gives everyone a fair chance.

Hope the tickets are all printed with name to stop the touts.

I do agree that some events (like the basketball and boxing) are excellent value for money - I expect they will end up be drawn from the hat.

With others, I reckon they will be trying to entice extra spectators at the last minute.

I wonder how much foreign nationals will be charged - is it the same or is it based on their cost of living.

And how close to the action does an 'A' seat get you in the womens beach vollyball

Cheers,

Nigel

[davidegee]

Originally Posted by nheather

And how close to the action does an 'A' seat get you in the womens beach vollyball

I take it you haven't seen how much beach volleyball tickets are then? They're amongst the most overpriced!

[Mac Man]

The top tier prices are, well.... pricey. But there seems to be £20 tickets available at all events. But what constitutehe A, B, C structure? Are these seating bands, as per music gigs? If so... why no stadium maps so we can at least get some idea of where we could be sitting for our money.

[sniffer66]

I shouldnt be suprised in Rip-Off Britain but when I heard tickets were going to be allocated on a lottery basis I kind of assumed all tickets would be the same price and you would get allocated which seats randomly

would have been a nice way to do it and would ensure not only the well off and corporate guests were seated in the best seats

At least the cycling is free and runs about a mile from me

Bang goes the "Peoples Olympics". Still, we are only paying for it

[JimmyMac]

are they really that extortionate? I've applied for the opening ceremony, the mens tennis final (which includes the mens and womens doubles final) and also the athletics session that includes the 100m final along with 9 other track events, total cost would be £270

Now obviously these are category D seats, at worst they will be at the back of the stadium, not much worse to a large portion of views I have had at many football grounds in this country but I can't say it ever spoiled my enjoyment of the game.

Is £270 really that bad for those potential tickets for 2 people?

[7ofnine]

They had Lord Coe on BBC Breakfast this morning, and apparently if you buy tickets for the whole family, they can't guarantee you'll all be sitting together.

[sniffer66]

Originally Posted by orpheus

They had Lord Coe on BBC Breakfast this morning, and apparently if you buy tickets for the whole family, they can't guarantee you'll all be sitting together.

Given my family that could be an unexpected bonus

[nheather]

I shouldnt be suprised in Rip-Off Britain but when I heard tickets were going to be allocated on a lottery basis I kind of assumed all tickets would be the same price and you would get allocated which seats randomly

Nice idea. The problem though is that they have to raise a set amount of money to pay for the event. So for an event where seats are

A £150
B £95
C £65
D £40
E £20

They would have to charge an average amount. No idea what that would be as we don't know how many seats of which and what the planned occupency is, but for the sake of argument lets say £75.

So everyone would have to pay £75 and may end up in a £20 seat. That's not much of a 'people's olympics' either.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Bill Hicks]

I registered this morning and have added my DC details for a pre-booking to watch the opening ceremony.
2 x tickets at the cheapest band (D) inclusive of booking fee (of £6.00) comes to £46.26, But it's not confirmed that I'll actually receive these tickets! I will receive a notification e-mail sometime between the 10th of May to the 10th of June this year, the same time my card will be debited if we're successful?

[mjn]

My chosen sport, gold medal decider, only £95 for the best seat!

[Philly112]

Prices seem about what I was expecting.

It would have been nice to see what the difference between the seats are, but I don't think that there are any obstructed views in the athletics stadium.

Fingers crossed I get the tickets I have gone for. And that Jessica Ennis doesn't break her foot in the meantime!

Phil

[King Tones]

Women's Beach Volleyball more expensive than Men's Volleyball

Why would that be

[Solomon Grundy]

Well someone has to pay for this nonsense...may as well be the people who actually want to watch it.

[Lee]

I'm surprised they haven't made it pay per view telly.

[DJT75]

Top price tickets are crazy prices but in general it's not too bad for Joe Bloggs, if you have a chance of being successful in the ballot.

If successful on all events (highly unlikely) £230 buys you the Opening Ceremony, 2 big Athletic Finals nights, football final, swimming finals & a bit of track cycling. I'd pay that. I've just applied for those with 4 tickets on each for £920.

I'm not quite sure exactly who they think will pay £700++ for the best athletic seats, but no doubt there will be someone out there. I'm more concerned how they're expecting someone to pay £150 in the velodrome for 90 mins of Saturday morning qualifying.

I should think there will be a load of tickets available for a lot of events throughout next year.

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by Leej

I'm surprised they haven't made it pay per view telly.

More people will watch on TV for free so advertising revenue should be sky high. Make it pay per view and you can not only guarantee the (much lower) number of viewers but you would also likely get less for advertising.

That's how I think it would be anyway, might be completely wrong.

[Steven]

Far as my memory serves me correctly the Olympics will be broadcast on the BBC as one of the "protected" events for free-to-air television (like Wimbledon, World Cup, 6 Nations etc)

They should charge commercial partners double for advertising hoardings though seeing as that is one of the few ways to legitimately get face time on the BBC. I would be interested to know how much money was raised by whoring out* London 2012 to Maccy D, Coca Cola, Cadburys, etc. You know, companies with a keen interest in a healthy active lifestyle

*See signature

[davidegee]

Originally Posted by Steven

I would be interested to know how much money was raised by whoring out* London 2012 to Maccy D, Coca Cola, Cadburys, etc. You know, companies with a keen interest in a healthy active lifestyle
[/SIZE]

The irony of advertising partners is great.

Britains Biggest Loser - sponsored by Subway

[zebredy]

Although I think its a bit of a rip off and could probably get a better view at home on my living-room TV, I only live 15 mins from the Excel centre so have put down for a couple pairs of tickets for the table tennis..

I wish this county had never won the right too host the Olympics but now its coming I might as well make the most of it, as its a once in a life time opportunity too see it live in the UK..

[RED_]

Was really ****** off when i found out that applying early doesn't help you at all. It should be first come first serve fgs! I was up at 5am applying to this (not up specifically for this but still!).

Put myself down for 4 tickets to the mens football final at Wembley stadium. £60 a go and frankly i live in London and travel past Wembley stadium every week so it's hardly once in a lifetime either. Didn't know that after i had submitted i couldn't pick anymore at a later time so im stuck with just one application for tickets. It's fair enough but i screwed that up and mostly because of prices. Thought i could wait a bit and try and justify spending it. If it's not first come first serve it's down to blind luck which is annoying. Thankfully i only live 5 minutes away from the Olympic park/village so i can just pop along whenever to have a look around. Plus the athletes are training in my local sports centre. Frankly i could just go to the gym and watch them

I've been called to the Excel centre for an interview because of the volunteer thing i signed up for so here's hoping i don't pay for anything and watch everything!

[everett_psycho]

i'd watch out for this a bit guys, some huge loopholes a few will fall in to:

1/ You can only order with a Visa card, annoying as hell for those who havent got one but you can get a visa prepaid card to use: http://www.visa.co.uk/en/products/visa_prepaid.aspx
you can also pay by cheque, but you have to write a cheque to the full amount of your application and they will cash the lot and refund the difference from what you paid to what you actually owed later on

2/ If you apply for tickets and are successful they will take the money in the middle of may. They will take whatever you are successful in getting so if you want to hedge your bets for getting athletics tickets and go for a pair of £50 ones for every night you'll be looking at a bill of 100 per night that they will take the lot. So in the middle of may you have to make sure you have enough funds free to cover your entire application otherwise it won't go through, if you win less you'll only pay for what you're getting but I'm betting if you dont have the funds they wont just cancel one nights tickets. You won't find out what tickets you've got until June though.

3/ They say if you dont want them there's a resale website, this will be launched in 2012 so you will have at least 6 months without the money on the tickets you've bought.

Now for my opinions on this... point 1 is obsurd, the olympics are meant to leave a legacy and be available to everyone. I know anyone can get a prepaid visa card to get them but with point 2 in mind everyone will have to get one and load it with the full amount for their application just in case... it's a bit stupid really.

as for point 2, i agree their lottery is a good idea and a fair method, but people want to see it so will apply to every night, they should tell you what you've been allocated before they take the cash and let you opt out if you want to or at least give you advanced notice of how much money they will be takign from your account to let you get it right

Just a warning on the 2nd point really, don't want all you guys going overdrawn because you lucked out and won £10000 worth of tickets you don't actually want

on a lighter note, only in the british based olympics would this happen

BBC News - London 2012 countdown clock stops in Trafalgar Square

[nheather]

You can only order with a Visa card

I presume it is sponsored by VISA.

I like these bits in the 'step by step guide to ordering'

We are proud to accept only Visa (debit, credit or prepaid products) on this website.

and

If you do not have a Visa card, the easiest way to obtain one is to contact your bank who will be able to help you select and apply for a Visa product which best suits your needs.

One almighty VISA advert in my opinion.

I'd like to see 1M people take out real VISA cards, pay for the event, pay off the balance and then cancel the cards - that would serve VISA right.

Cheers,

Nigel