Skip to main content

Debate Continues on Tokyo Olympics Ticket Pricing Scheme


On May 15 the organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games held a hearing to consider expert opinion on sales strategies for tickets for the games. The plans presented included setting the maximum ticket price for the opening ceremony at the same level as for the 2012 London Olympics, 288,000 yen [~$2600 USD], but others called for a wider range of pricing options. With no agreement reached discussion of ticket pricing is set to continue.

The committee did manage to set pricing for some Olympic events, ranging from 2000 yen [~$18 USD] for first-round soccer matches to as high as 108,000 yen [~$980 USD] for athletics. Opening ceremonies for the Paralympic Games will max out at 144,100 yen [~$1300 USD], with individual event tickets ranging from 1000 yen [~$9 USD] to 6500 yen [~$59 USD]. However, saying, "This has become a debate about creating a more dynamic range in pricing," session chairperson Sadahiko Kano, professor emeritus at Waseda University, postponed a conclusion to discussion.

In order to give the widest range of people possible the opportunity to see the Games in person the organizing committee is looking at options to offer discounted tickets for elementary school students and families as well as ticket plans for spectators in wheelchairs and their companions. At the same time, in order to maximize revenue from ticket sales they plan to target the wealthy with "high-grade tickets" including meal service along with admission.

The organizing committee plans to submit its pricing structure to the International Olympic Committee Board of Directors in July for approval and to launch ticket sales in the summer next year.

source article:
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/201805150000544.html
translated by Brett Larner

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr