Paralympic Games: Ticket sales breaking records

By MARGARET DAVIS
Published on 07/09/2012 03:30

Paralympic ticket sales look set to raise £10 million more than originally expected, organisers said yesterday.

Chief executive of Locog, Paul Deighton, said ticketing revenue had burst through the initial target of £35m.

So far more than 2.7 million tickets have been sold – half of those on sale cost £10 or less.

Mr Deighton said: “The original target for ticket revenue was around £35m. I expect we will come in nearer £45m so that’s clearly been a great success.”

In Beijing, organisers sold 1.8 million tickets and brought in an additional 1.6 million spectators, including disabled sports fans to give them the chance to see Paralympic events.

Merchandise sales for both the Paralympics and Olympics are expected to meet their revenue target of £80m – with the most popular Paralympic items including a Union flag pin badge, Paralympic Games souvenir programme, and Mandeville mascot.

Organisers sold sponsorship as a package including the Olympics and Paralympics, but would not reveal precise figures as to how much had been given.

However Mr Deighton said the Paralympics “more than washes its face” in financial terms.

“The revenue generally comes in broad buckets, there are single items that we can attribute to the Paralympic Games, ticketing being the best example.

“You have to come up with an assumption about what proportion of the domestic sponsorship revenue you attribute to the Paralympic Games because we sold them as a package.

“If you put all those together and make sensible assumptions then the Paralympic Games more than washes its face.”

Of the tickets on sale, three quarters were priced at £20 or less, and Mr Deighton said this has allowed more families to come to watch sport. “The tickets for the Paralympic Games were very affordable, so we’re delighted with the demographic in the Park. It’s great to see families who have been able to come in big groups and have a wonderful day out.

“It’s been a great way of many people coming to enjoy Paralympic sport but also see all the wonderful venues that we’ve had available this summer.”

International Paralympic Committee chief executive Xavi Gonzalez said: “To put it in context of previous Games, we have almost sold 900,000 more tickets than Beijing, which is amazing. To put it in context again, we only started to sell tickets to the Paralympics in Atlanta.”