With only a few days to go until the opening ceremony in Paris, more than 500,000 Olympic tickets are still available. Despite being cheaper than at London 2012 when inflation is taken into account, organizers have announced that between half a million and 600,000 tickets, including for the 100-meter finals for men and women, are still available.
There are around 4,000 tickets left for Friday’s opening ceremony, but the two most expensive options are $950 and $2900. Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet says no one is interested in the Summer Olympics. He says hundreds of thousands of tickets were held back until the seating designs were finalized.
Mr. Estanguet said they had already reached their income objective, with 8.8 million tickets sold for the Paris Olympics so far. The majority of the unsold tickets are for football events. However, there are still seats available for other sporting championships, such as cycling, swimming, rowing, and rugby sevens. Another source of criticism is the decision to charge twice as much for Metro tickets during the Olympics and Paralympics, which has caused a price spike. Until September, the price of a single ticket will remain at $4.
French unionists have threatened to derail the Paris Olympics by going on strike a week before the opening ceremony. The dancers who had signed up to participate have cited inadequate pay and “glaring inequalities in treatment” as their reasons.
The opulent boat parade down the Seine River is just around the corner, and tickets range in price from $900 to $2900, with hospitality packages costing nearly $4000. The show’s 3000-plus performers, including dancers, acrobats, and actors, are reportedly working for very little pay or even free, with one union describing the recruiting process as “shameful” for hundreds of its members.
The Paris committee claims to have contacted Paname 24, the company in charge of hiring the opening ceremony dancers, to verify the current employment circumstances. They say they take the working conditions of everyone involved in the success of the Games at Paris 2024 extremely seriously.
