Seine-Saint-Denis’ government is set to give away 150,000 tickets to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The tickets will go to Seine-Saint-Denis residents; currently there are 1.65 million residing in the department. While a majority of the tickets will come from state allocation, 30,000 of the tickets were made available by the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, while 40,000 were purchased by the department.
An additional 28,000 tickets will be given out for the Olympic Opening Ceremony on July 26.
Almost 17,000 university students will be able to receive the free tickets, as well as elderly people and people with disabilities, unemployed residents, and people within the sports movement. Another 10,000 will go towards the Plaine Commune agglomeration community, offering tickets to people who live in the areas most affected by Games traffic.
Residents can obtain the remaining tickets by partaking in competitions, attending Olympic fairs, or waiting in an online queue.
The 2024 Olympics has already drawn criticism, as tickets, accommodation, and transportation prices are climbing to new highs. When tickets first went on sale to the general public, around 7 million tickets were sold. Many have spoken-out regarding the high ticket prices; Sebastian Coe, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and former head of the London 2012 organizing committee, criticized the Paris 2024 bosses for the cost of tickets for next year’s event, noting that fans and the families of athletes will be priced-out.
This follows news earlier this week that organizers are struggling to sell tickets to the Paralympics. Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet disclosed that a mere fraction of the envisioned three million tickets have been sold, amounting to just 900,000 tickets thus far. This falls considerably short of the target set by organizers, signaling a potential struggle in achieving the goal of hosting the best-selling Paralympics in history.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are set to take place from July 26 to August 11 before the Paralympic Games take place from August 28 to September 8.