2.3 million tickets available in London 2012 second round ticket sales

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) confirmed today that 2.3 million tickets will be available in the second round of the London 2012 Olympic tickets sales. Tickets will be on sale at a range of price categories, and across a range of sports. It was also confirmed that over a million additional tickets will be put on sale to the British public from December 2011 right up until Games time, as LOCOG releases contingency tickets and returns from client groups.

LOCOG aims to get two thirds of the 1.9 million original applicants to the Games.

The second round sale will begin at 6 am on 24 June, and the first ten days of sales until 6pm on 3 July will only be open exclusively to the people who applied in the initial application phase which took place between 15 March and 26 April, but were not allocated any tickets.

Applicants who received tickets in the first round of sales will also get another chance to purchase tickets in the second round from 6am on 8th July to 6pm on 17 July.

Everyone who was unsuccessful in the first round will now be able to apply for tickets in 310 sessions, including 44 medal events, for Archery, Athletics, Athletics - Race Walk, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe Sprint, Mountain Biking, Dressage, Football, Fencing, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Synchronised Swimming, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling, and Weightlifting.

1.5 million of the tickets will be priced at £50 or less and over half a million of these tickets will be priced at £20 or less. 60 sessions with special prices are still available - 33 are in football, and 27 are in the other sports. People will be able to apply for a maximum of 3 sessions and 6 tickets per session for most sports (Football, Volleyball and Race Walk will have larger limits).

LOCOG today published a detailed list of which sports, sessions and price categories are still availablehttp://media.ticketmaster.com/en-gb/img/sys/tournament/london2012/oly-complete.pdf> and have sent it directly to applicants who did not receive tickets in the first round. This will give people time to plan their applications for the second round sale which begins on 24th June.

Of the available sports, those with the largest number of sessions at largest venues such as Football, Volleyball and Hockey have the most availability. 1.7 million of the remaining 2.3 million tickets are for Football.

The second round of sales will use a 'first come first served' application system. Applicants will be notified whether their request for tickets has been successful between 24 and 48 hours after the request is submitted. Payment will be taken after the 10 day process, over a period of up to four days - and applicants will then be notified that the transaction and ticket purchase is complete.

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe commented; 'We recognise that the massive demand for tickets has meant that many sports fans were disappointed not to receive tickets in the initial application. That's why we are prioritising them specifically in the second round, and giving them the first choice of tickets available. There are over 2 million Olympic tickets on offer at a wide range of prices and our objective is to get these into the hands of as many of the original applicants to the Games as possible. Today we are publishing information about the second round sale so people have time to plan before the sales launch on 24th June.'

There were around 700,000 successful applications for 3 million tickets in the first round meaning more than 2.5 million people have tickets to the Games from the first round of sales. Successful applicants were, on average, allocated between 4 and 5 tickets, totalling around £275.

Demand massively exceeded supply in popular sports and sessions, especially at weekends. LOCOG received 22.5 million ticket requests for tickets from 1.9 million people and conducted over 1,500 ballots. As a result of the high demand for popular sessions, over a million people were unsuccessful. Three million tickets were sold in the first round. Three million of the tickets put into the first round were priced at £50 or less.

Demand was greatest for the Opening Ceremony, Athletics, Track Cycling, Swimming and Artistic Gymnastics. Over two million ticket requests were received for the Opening Ceremony, over a million ticket requests were received for tickets to the Men's 100m final, and over five million ticket requests were made for Athletics tickets alone.

In the next fourteen months, LOCOG will complete detailed venue and seating plans across the 35 Olympic venues. This is a complex process, and negotiations with key client groups including broadcasters and press are still ongoing.

Current venue modelling indicates that over a million tickets, either from contingency or accredited returns, will be released to the British public from December 2011 right up until Games time. LOCOG's intention is to notify all the 1.9 million people who have already applied in advance of these tickets going on general sale. These tickets are likely to include the high demand events and ceremonies.

LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton commented; 'We are working hard, venue by venue, to offer all our contingency tickets to the public. Some of our venues have yet to be built. Others have never seen competitive sport or delivered live TV broadcasts. Every venue needs a precise and final seating plan, and we are working through this at the moment. As soon as we are able to release these seats, we will, and seats for some of the most popular sports and sessions, and the ceremonies, will be available again next year. We will tell our most loyal fans - those who applied in the first round - in advance of these tickets going on general sale so they are ready to apply.'

There will be a number of additional opportunities for the British public to get to the Games. The London 2012 Ticketshare scheme will enable 130,000 schoolchildren to go to the Olympic Games with tickets donated by the Prestige corporate hospitality sales. The scheme has also seen tickets donated to Tickets for Troops for distribution to the Armed Forces, the British Olympic Association and Sport England.

Olympic Park tickets, giving access to the Park at Games time, will go on sale in 2012.

Many London 2012 Sponsors have announced their ambitions to give a large proportion of their ticket allocations to the public through competitions and campaigns. 8% of tickets go to sponsors.

For more information, contact:www.london2012.com

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