Paralympic officials say they are confident the London Games could become the first to completely sell out in the event’s 52-year history, following another round of strong ticket sales.
More than 1.2m of the 2.2m tickets on offer for the 2012 Paralympics, which run from 29 August to 9 September, have already been sold, the bulk of them in a much-promoted initial sales window in September. Another 125,000 were sold last week.
“We’re probably in the strongest position we’ve ever been in for ticket sales ahead of a Paralympics,” said Craig Spence, head of communications for the Bonn-based International Paralympic Committee. “Our intention is that it would be great if we could sell out the Games. It’s definitely possible; there’s a real potential for us to do it.
“It would be amazing. Bear in mind that in Sydney 12 years ago they were still giving away a lot of tickets. Tickets being sold for a Paralympic Games is still a fairly new thing, so to sell all of them for full price would be pretty remarkable.”
Adrian Bassett from the London organising committee, responsible for the ticket sales, said the scale of early sales had been unprecedented: “A sellout is certainly possible. When you look at previous Paralympics it’s quite often during the Olympics or just before that people wake up to the Paralympic Games and there’s a surge of ticket sales then. We’re expecting to still be selling tickets quite close to the Games themselves.”
Even if the Games opened with just a few remaining seats available it would be a significant achievement, both for the London Games and the wider acceptance of Paralympic sport by the public.
At most of the 15 summer Paralympics since the first event, in Rome in 1960, seats have been given away for free. Organisers of the 2000 Sydney Games sold 1.2m tickets in all, with a figure of 850,000 in Athens four years later. Beijing in 2008 saw more than 3.6 million people watch Paralympic events in all, but almost half of tickets were distributed by the Chinese government to schools and community groups. Even the 1.82m full-price tickets were relatively cheap, ranging from 30 to 80 yuan (about £3 to £8).
The London Paralympic prices remain competitive – aside from the opening and closing ceremony the highest figure is £45, while 75% cost £20 or less.
The interest in tickets has been prompted by a number of factors, Spence said, ranging from pre-Games coverage by Channel 4, which will broadcast the Paralympics, to the wider awareness of Paralympics sports in the UK. He said: “People are buying into the concept. British Paralympic athletes are far more well known, say compared to China. We’re in a far stronger starting position here than we were going into the Beijing Games. Paralympic sport is probably more accepted in this country than in any other country in the world.”
Interest has also been spurred by the likelihood of some home success: the British team won 42 golds in Beijing, and has come second in the medal table in the last three summer Games. Spence said: “Everyone buys into winners, but I think people are also just buying into the fact that it’s elite sport. They know they’re going to see some really competitive action. It’s elite sport at its best.”
Such has been the interest that London officials are at pains to point out that while some lower-capacity sports such as wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby have largely sold out, tickets remain for many sessions in the 80,000-capacity Olympic stadium and in the aquatics centre.
For example, tickets are still available for the evening session of 6 September, where the finals include the men’s wheelchair 800m, with London marathon winner David Weir a favourite, fellow Briton Hannah Cockcroft going in the women’s 200m wheelchair race, and the men’s T44 100m sprint, where the field is headed by the Paralympian superstar Oscar Pistorius.
The latter race would most likely be more exciting than its Olympic equivalent, Spence predicted: “At the men’s T44 100m in the world championships last year just 0.09 seconds separated the top four finishers. Then think of by how fair Usain Bolt usually wins his 100m.”
Same Difference 