“It started very strong. In a few days, people rushed to the squares”, rejoiced Tony Estanguet, the president of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), on RTL, on February 22. Two weeks after the launch of the ticket office, on February 15, around fifteen disciplines – including fencing, judo and triathlon – are already sold out.
On paper, everything seems to work perfectly. In fact, it gets seriously stuck in the corners: the lucky ones were quickly disillusioned with the ticket prices, judged “exorbitant” even “prohibitive”and in view of the complexity of the procedure put in place by Paris 2024. Almost all of the 350 or so people who responded to the call for testimonies of the Monde share their “huge disappointment”. The “baskets” made up by potential buyers easily exceed 600 euros for a couple and 1,500 euros for a family of four.
“The important thing is to participate, but at what cost? » bitterly deplores Guillaume, paraphrasing the famous quote attributed to Pierre de Coubertin, the renovator of the Olympic Games. The 36-year-old teacher, who lives in Seine-et-Marne, gave up on the amounts to be paid to obtain the precious sesame:
“I will be entitled to crowds, traffic jams and crowded transport, but not to the Games. I find that unfair. »
For this first phase of sales, three million tickets (out of the ten million planned in total) are at stake. The lucky ones who have been drawn can buy them until March 15 (unless the three million tickets find takers until then) and only in packs (lots of three tickets minimum, thirty maximum). The other seven million will be sold at retail from May 11, again after a lottery.
The first to arrive won the cheapest places
The organizers recall that in total, one million tickets at 24 euros will be put on sale, and that half of the tickets will not exceed 50 euros. Except that, of this million tickets at 24 euros, half is not directly accessible to the general public: it has been reserved by the State and the local authorities involved in the Games for solidarity ticketing (under 16s , sports volunteers, people with disabilities, etc.). In addition, since the winners have the possibility of buying up to thirty tickets, the first to arrive won the cheapest places.
Above all, for this first phase of sales, it is compulsory to buy at least one ticket for three different sports. However, if we take, for example, three tickets for a first discipline, we will have to order three tickets for the other two sports. A mechanism that many people who testify to the Monde describe as “forced sale”. This is the case of Audrey, a student in Bordeaux, who wanted to see women’s artistic gymnastics with her sister:
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