NEW YORK — Even though Chicago wasn’t selected to host the 2016 Summer Games, Olympic fever might have you itching to see the Games in person.
Before you start strategizing for 2016, however, you might want to consider the upcoming Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C., which start Feb. 12 just 30 miles north of the border.
You might be surprised to learn you can still get tickets, including to the opening and closing ceremonies.
“People ask me if it’s too late, and I say no. If you asked me in a few months, I might answer differently,” said Mark Lewis, president of Jet Set Sports, the company that handles overseas Olympic ticket sales in the United States.
So whether it means hopping on a plane or driving across the border, here’s a guide on scoring Olympic tickets.
How sales are handled
First, let’s demystify the process.
The International Olympic Committee is made up of more than 200 national committees, including the U.S. Olympic Committee. When a host is selected, its country forms an organizing committee to plan the games.
Each host city handles ticket sales its own way, said Sandrine Tonge, a spokeswoman for the IOC in Switzerland. But typically, an organizing committee sells tickets in waves directly to its nation’s residents, often starting more than a year before the games.
The organizing committee leaves the responsibility of international ticket sales to the Olympic committees of each country. Here, the U.S. Olympic Committee farms the job out to CoSport, a New Jersey-based ticketing agency. Its parent company, Jet Set Sports, sells tickets to corporate clients.
You can, of course, find other sites that sell Olympic tickets, but you run the risk of getting counterfeits. That happened to many people with the most recent games in Beijing, said Nicole Saunches, a spokeswoman for the USOC.
Even if the tickets are real, there will likely be a huge markup.
The Vancouver games
CoSport still has tickets to Vancouver available on its site at www.cosport.com, although the event you’re interested in may be sold out for now.
Currently, the only athletic event tickets available are for ice hockey and curling. But you can still get tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies, for prices ranging from $398 to $1,294.
Tickets to other events, such as speed skating, figure skating and snowboarding, are still available through package deals, which include hotel accommodations and ground transportation. Flights are not included.
More tickets could become available in coming months, however. This may happen for several reasons, including if another country has leftover tickets. Or unsold tickets for corporate clients might be released to individuals.
“People can always check back from time to time,” said Lewis of Jet Set Sports. “It’s a fluid process.”
The Vancouver committee is also announcing an official ticket resale site later this fall, and the hope is to make it open to international buyers. You can sign up for e-mail updates at www.Vancouver2010.com.
If you have plans to be in Vancouver during the games anyway, you could always try to get tickets at the gate — but your chances are far from guaranteed, especially for figure skating and other popular events.
What you’ll pay
Ticket prices for the Olympics are usually based on prices for similar events in the host country’s market, according to the IOC.
Ticket prices from CoSport will include a markup, but all charges are approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Either way, be prepared for some sticker shock. For example, CoSport charges between $454 and $930 for a ticket to the men’s gold medal hockey game, not including surcharges. There aren’t anymore tickets available for that particular event right now.
Tickets to the opening ceremony, which are still available, are between $398 and $930.
There is one loophole. If you have friends or family in Canada, you can have them buy tickets for you at lower prices. Organizing committees only sell to mailing addresses within their countries.
For example, in Canada the face value of a single ticket for men’s gold medal hockey, before surcharges, is between $350 Canadian ($322 U.S.) and $775 Canadian ($714 U.S.), considerably less than the prices from CoSport.
About 100,000 of the 1.6 million Vancouver tickets sell for $25 Canadian (about $23 U.S.) or less. More than half are $175 Canadian (about $160 U.S.) or less. Of course, they won’t be for the hottest games in town.
Another wave of tickets will be released later this fall, though the Vancouver committee hasn’t yet revealed a specific date or said how many tickets will be available.
Ticket availability
In Vancouver, about 70 percent of tickets are going to the public, with the rest reserved for the “Olympic Family,” which includes athletes and their families, Olympic officials and media.
The ratio can vary depending on the specific event, however. With a popular event such as women’s figure skating, for example, tickets will naturally be much more limited. But at least 30 percent of tickets for all events are available to the public.
Each country’s national committee, or its selected ticket agent, is responsible for gauging demand at home and requesting an allotment of tickets from the organizing committee.
There is a limit on the number of tickets a person can buy. For high demand events, it’s four tickets, and eight tickets for other events. The overall limit per account is 50 tickets.
If the tickets you want to the Winter Games aren’t available, you might have a better chance with the 2012 Summer Games in London. Tickets for those games go on sale in 2011 — so you’ve got plenty of time to prepare.
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