• The first phase of ticket sales for the Olympics through a system of packs takes place from February 15 to March 15.
  • Many sports fans drawn at random deplore a sales principle that is difficult to grasp, in addition to an exorbitant cost and disciplines already stormed and unavailable for purchase.

Tony Estanguet had announced it for a long time: the organizing committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo) of Paris had decided "to reverse the logic of the draw". And a priori, the lucky ones have put their heads upside down to get some sesames for the 2024 edition. Finally for those of the very first session on Wednesday, February 15, connected from 11 am, without final in major sports.


My slot started Wednesday, February 15 at 11:00 am.... There were already no more places at attractive rates for the night sections of athletics and no more places for the 4 basketball quarterfinals.... forced to fall back on default choices...

— Fabien HABRIAS (@FHabrias) February 20, 2023

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How then did the Cojo determine the number of places per category and per sport available during these "pack" sessions? Is it verified that the last draws of this session which must end on March 15 will have almost no chance of having a ticket for rowing qualifications under 180 euros? The body tells us that three million tickets were put on sale, out of a total of ten and "that all categories were represented at this first sale." Full of hope at 20 Minutes, as great sports fans, we can tell you about our own experience.

"It's the event of a lifetime"

Tuesday, 21 February, 11 a.m.: Finally, the long-awaited session opens. I can start buying tickets for the Paris Olympics, "a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said the parents on the phone last night, who made an Excel spreadsheet much more efficient than the original. I have already read and heard on the radio the criticisms of users who had the chance to be drawn before me but the hope is there: I believe in it! Finally, from 11:10, I am disillusioned. Indeed, either the prices are exorbitant, or the sports still available do not kick me, or the competition days overlap, or the proposed sessions stop before the final phases, or all four!



Cris Bernardin, PE teacher in Val-d'Oise, can testify: "It's the event of a lifetime, I've been saving for two-three years already, some holiday budgets will go into the Olympics budget and for now, I managed to get 12 places for 1,200 euros but including a lot of "minor" sports". Impossible for this basketball fan to have a place beyond the quarterfinals. "Normally I have the quarter where there will be either the France or the United States, for the tidy sum of... €280 for men and €125 for women." He adds that he also "to complete a pack" took a golf place at 24 euros, "but I'm not sure at all to go".

"Out of 750 sessions for the Olympics, 80% of the sessions are put on sale as soon as this pack is sold," says the Cojo. For the remaining 20%, "which concern very high requests such as athletics, swimming or team sports finals", will only go on sale on May 11, with pre-registration required between March 15 and April 20.

A more than substantial budget vs. "People's Games"

For my part, I opt for the women's rugby sevens final, a session of eighth-finals of beach volleyball and a qualifying evening in water polo. Total with service charges of 1.5% included: 294.35 euros. Far from being accessible to all and especially without the events I was aiming for, namely handball, athletics, swimming, climbing or canoeing / kayaking in open water (eclecticism, there is only that true!). A recurring criticism among the Twittos and happy drawn, who have not forgotten the words of the Cojo on the "Popular Games and accessible to all".


Selected in the draw for the purchase of tailor-made packs @Paris2024 this morning but.... Everything is already gone, except for a few categories of seats at 315 €, very complicated system to understand .. What a fiasco!

— Elisa Madiot (@ElisaMadiot) February 19, 2023

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Cris, who prepared for this session with friends, is well aware of this: "We all work in the field of sport, at a managerial level. The prices are clearly excessive." Our PE teacher from Val-d'Oise has planned a budget of 2,000 euros in total: "I will do everything to have the basketball final, men or women, even if it is necessary to put the price". And by May, Cris intends to tighten his belt to be able to participate in the draw for single tickets. "And my partner and I are thinking about renting our apartment in Cergy during the Olympics so that we can have fun. We will sleep at my parents' house in the Paris region. Frankly, it's an option that we're looking at more and more."

The next sales phases more satisfactory?

For the Organising Committee, "if the Paris 2024 ticketing is a great success, there are still great opportunities to experience the Games, with tickets at 50 euros and less, available in fifteen disciplines, for this first phase of sales, even if some sports or disciplines are already sold out in less than a week, like climbing, fencing, judo, breaking, skateboarding, BMX racing and freestyle." A priori, these will be available in the next phases of sale. Does this mean that the next draws for this phase that runs until March 15 have nothing more to expect?

It is still difficult to find your way around this ticketing calendar and its multiple modalities, this "logic of the reverse draw", in order, among other things, to fill the enclosures even for minor sports, the usual Achilles' heel of the Olympics. Cris has already had an Olympic experience in 2016 in Rio, on a more classical principle. "There was a single date for all tickets to go on sale, not packs, and yet, we had seen a preliminary round water polo match, the nautical stadium was full. Frankly, at the time, I got 650 euros for 13 events, I saw the final of Teddy Riner and Clarisse Agbegnenou, a fencing final and I was at the athletics session with the finals of the 100 and 400 meters, "he says. Like an air of "it was better before" but without Marseillaise at home.

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