The Price of Gold - Lessons from London 2012 ticket sales

With London hosting or bidding to host several major sporting events in the next five years, our Economy Committee report sets out recommendations for the Mayor, government and sporting bodies to ensure that tickets are available and affordable for ordinary people for future championships held in the capital. The Committee also plans to share the findings of its report with the organisers of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio. After analysing ticket sale data for 12 sports during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Committee found:

no-one was able to buy a ticket for Olympic athletics, track cycling or swimming medal sessions for less than £50

the average price to see Mo Farah win gold in the men’s 5,000 metres was £333

58 per cent of people who bought a ticket for the Men’s 100m final paid more than £294 each

the average price of watching Tom Daley win bronze in the 10m platform diving final was £203

fewer than half of tickets for Olympic track cycling were allocated to the UK public

The report’s recommendations to organisers of future major sporting events include: · Ensuring ticketing arrangements are much more transparent, with details of tickets within each price category published in advance for each session · Using a more consistent approach to pricing, including a pledge on the minimum number of affordable tickets for medal sessions and use specific price bands not varying categories. · Allocating a minimum proportion of public tickets for each session · Using a ballot to allocate tickets but limit customers initially to a maximum number of tickets

The report also found that London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) met its overall pledge that at least 75 per cent of all Games tickets would be sold to the UK public, but there was huge variation between different sports and sessions. For example, in swimming medal sessions just 45 per cent of tickets in the 17,500 capacity Aquatic Centre went to the public. The rest went to client groups, including sponsors, public from overseas, the International Olympic Committee, media, competitors and their families.

Overall 11 million tickets were sold to the Games and LOCOG exceeded its ticket sales target by 32 per cent. The Committee says this is a significant achievement but also suggests LOCOG could have made many more affordable tickets available and still met its target.

Read the full data analysis by the Assembly covering 12 Olympic and Paralympic sports.

The Assembly previously published a report about ticketing arrangements for the 2012 Games in February 2012.

The Mayor has now sent a response to the report - attached below.