VANOC Nets $77 Million in Ticket Revenue

(ATR) According to a recent quarterly report, Vancouver organizers received a cash infusion thanks to the first phase of 2010 ticket sales

VANOC sold $77 million in tickets to the 2010 Winter Olympics, according to the report for the Nov. 1, 2008-Jan. 31, 2009 quarter.

Unaudited statements published March 25, however, do not show the quantity of tickets sold.

"I don’t know what that number is," said Executive Vice President of Revenue, Marketing and Communications Dave Cobb during a media teleconference. "It’s well into the hundreds of thousands of tickets."

Cobb said the dollar amount is largely the first phase of sales to the Canadian public plus a "very small portion" to the Olympic family. Revenue from sales to sponsors, governments and international markets will be reported during the next two quarterly reports Cobb said. A second public sales window is coming this summer. The date and process has not been announced.

"We are expecting to have a significant number of tickets for virtually all events," Cobb said.

VANOC claims the phase one inventory was exhausted for 120 of 170 events and is forecasting $211 million in ticket revenue out of its $1.43 billion revised budget.

VANOC has not disclosed how many tickets were available to the public. Tickets for the 2010 Winter Paralympics go on sale May 6.

The infusion of ticket revenue allowed VANOC sponsor and lender Royal Bank to reduce its line of credit to VANOC from $77.2 million to $24.4 million.

"We have a lot of cash now and we don’t need the credit. It was an easy thing for us to agree to on a temporary basis," Cobb said.

VANOC signed no new sponsors during the quarter. The January-announced sponsorship of ginseng-based Cold-FX pills was actually signed in October.

VANOC received $44 million in domestic sponsorship payments and value-in-kind and $9.8 million in international sponsorship payments for the period.

"There will be more sponsors coming," Cobb said. "We only need a few more to hit our numbers."

VANOC earned $118.6 million during the quarter, compared to a $53 million deficit for the previous quarter. The quarterly report said VANOC has recorded $498 million in operating revenues and $454.5 million in expenses to date. On a project-to-date basis, VANOC is $43.5 million in the black.

The next report is due in June for the period ending April 30.

Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver announced deputy city engineer Peter Judd as successor of retiring Olympic services general manager Dave Rudberg on Wednesday.

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