The dedicated ticketing platform for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, taking place from August 28 to September 8, has opened on Monday, October 9 at 10am.
There are 2.8 million tickets available – compared to 10 million for the Olympics, of which 7.2 million have already been sold. They are available on a first come, first served basis until all seats are sold.
All sessions and disciplines in the Paralympic Games program are available, except the paramarathon and paracycling, which are free events. Additionally, tickets for the Opening Ceremony at Place de la Concorde and the Closing Ceremony at the Stade de France will also be on sale.
The Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP) originally expected to sell almost 3.5 million tickets. As a result of "technical constraints" at the competition venues – temporary or otherwise – currently under construction, they have been forced to cut back. According to COJOP, this is still more than were available for Rio 2016 (2.1 million tickets sold) or London 2012 (2.7 million).
Tickets can be purchased in real time for up to 30 events per account – 10 for each sports session and four for the ceremonies – independently of tickets that have already purchased for the Olympic Games.
Following the controversy over Olympic ticket prices, COJOP knows it is expected to have a say in the Paralympic ticket price structure. It is hoped that Paris 2024 can deliver a "popular" and "accessible" competition this time. To attend a Paralympic event, you will need to pay no more than €100. Tickets for some Olympic finals cost more than €900.
There will be 500,000 Paralympic tickets available at €15, and half of the 2.8 million tickets are priced at €25 or less, with 80% less than €50. Tickets for the opening ceremony are expected to cost between €150 and €700, while those for the closing ceremony should cost between €45 and €450 – a far cry from the maximum price of €2,700 for the Olympic opening ceremony on the Seine.
Paris 2024 is also offering two packages for the Paralympic Games: a Discovery Pass and a Family Offer. The former gives access to all competition venues within a geographical area for just €24 – for example, the Paris Center pass includes the Grand Palais (wheelchair fencing and para-taekwondo), the Arena Champ-de-Mars (para-judo and wheelchair rugby), the Eiffel Tower stadium (blind football) and the Invalides (para-archery). There are three arenas included in the Paris Sud pass: Arena Paris Sud 1 (boccia), Arena Paris Sud 4 (para table tennis), and Arena Paris Sud 6 (goalball). The Family Offer enables children under 12 to purchase two tickets at €10 each for every standard adult ticket purchased, regardless of the sessions selected (ceremonies excluded).
COJOP doesn't plan to wait for Paralympic ticket sales to be boosted by the opening of the Olympic Games. It hopes to sell the bulk of its tickets during the opening sale on October 9, followed by the D-100 days in mid-May 2024. Its budget model is based on an 80% capacity rate in competition venues. According to one organizer: "We want to offer full stadiums to athletes."
Public authorities from the state, the City of Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis (the location of the Stade de France, just outside Paris) and the Ile-de-France region have committed to distributing (and therefore purchasing) some 300,000 tickets to priority audiences, including 200,000 to schoolchildren.
Paris 2024 hopes to sell at least 500,000 tickets to all Paralympic stakeholders and there will also be 84,000 tickets reserved for people with disabilities, including 60,000 easy-access seats and 24,000 for wheelchair users and people accompanying them – although this amounts to less than 1% of the total number of tickets available. At a press briefing, a COJOP spokesperson emphasized that in London there were half as many available. He added that a limited number of tickets for the Olympic Games are still available for people with reduced mobility.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.