Paralympic ticket sales getting big boost from unexpected source
Only 33 per cent of 2.5 million available tickets have been sold
Ticket sales for the Paralympic Games are lagging, but they are getting a big boost from an unexpected source — the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Philip Craven, the head of the International Paralympic Committee , told The Associated Press in an interview that 33 per cent of 2.5 million tickets had been sold, compared to 67 per cent of six million Olympic tickets.
Rio's municipal government announced Monday — as the Paralympic countdown clock reached 100 days — that it was buying 500,000 Paralympic tickets to distribute among schools, municipal workers and to unspecified people with "impairments." In addition, it said it was buying 47,000 Olympic tickets to distribute, principally to students.
Two years ago at the World Cup, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes criticized expensive ticket prices that shut out many residents of Rio, which has a stark divide between the rich and poor.
Paes promised at the time to give away 1.2 million tickets for the Olympics, but failed to deliver.
The 47,000 Olympics tickets that the mayor finally came up with is about four per cent of his initial promise.
It was a hollow promise. The city would have needed to spend between $10-15 million to buy 1.2 million tickets. Local Olympic organizers said repeatedly they could not afford to give away tickets due to a tight operating budget that depends on ticket-sales income.
The price tag for the 500,000 Paralympics tickets should be much lower, perhaps in the range of $1-2 million. This is because Paralympic tickets are much cheaper and the city is buying far fewer.