Little time left to get your ticket to 2010 Vancouver Games

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Olympic mascots Quatchi, Miga and Sumi will enjoy guaranteed seating when the Olympic torch is lit on Feb. 12, 2010, to start the Vancouver Winter Games. But humans who hope to be sitting nearby have until Nov. 7 of this year to request admission tickets to the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony and the myriad athletic competitions sandwiched in between.

Vancouver Games organizers say that 1.6 million tickets will be sold before the Games begin. Of that total, 70% will be sold to the general public, with the rest going to Olympic-related entities, including corporate sponsors.

U.S. ticket sales again are being handled by privately held CoSport. The Far Hills, N.J.-based company also is licensed by the Vancouver Games Organizing Committee to sell tickets in Australia and European Union countries. (For a list of ticket agents in other countries, visit the Vancouver 2010 website.

CoSport won’t be awarding tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis. That should mean that folks who used their high-speed Internet hook-ups will have no advantage over a ticket request that the U.S. Postal Service delivers next week to CoSport’s office.

CoSport is using a random lottery that company President Jean-Paul Modde characterized during a telephone interview as giving consumers an equal chance at getting their requested tickets.

Though CoSport expects to sell most of its allotted tickets, stock that remains unsold will be offered for sale in February or March, Modde said.

As is Olympics custom, the process of allocating tickets to various countries remains frustratingly murky. Vancouver organizers won’t say how many tickets are being allocated to the U.S. market, or how that number is determined. Modde also declined to say how many tickets are being sold in this country.

“We’re still negotiating on the last tickets we’re going to get for this allocation,” Modde said. CoSport might eventually provide consumers with some idea of how many tickets were available, or what percentage of requests ultimately gets fulfilled.

Modde also said that the roiled financial markets haven’t seemed to scare away travelers.

“Demand has been high, in line, if not a little more than, what we expected,” Modde said. “A large number of requests are coming from the Northwestern part of the country -– Washington state, Oregon –- and I suspect a lot of them will be driving rather than flying.”

As is the case with most things in life, fans who want to get close to the action will pay more for a seat than fans who are content with the nosebleed section. Here’s a look at what the highest-priced admissions to the most popular events will cost. Prices are for tickets only, not lodging.

The most expensive Opening Ceremony ticket will go for $1,294. The highest-priced admission to the gala figure skating exhibition will cost $650, while the top-end ticket for the men’s gold medal hockey game will cost $930.

Vancouver organizers allow CoSport to charge a 20% commission based upon a ticket’s face value. That value was set in September, before the U.S. dollar grew noticeably stronger in relationship to the Canadian dollar.

More later on about what’s being done to avoid a ticketing scandal like the one that marred the Beijing Games for hundreds of consumers.

-- Greg Johnson