We've looked at previous Games, we've looked at other sporting events around the world and we've done plenty of research to come up with our prices. Underpinning all our thinking are three key principles:
First, we want to make tickets affordable and accessible, so as many people as possible feel able to apply.
Second, we need to raise the money to stage the Games – one-quarter of our revenue is from ticketing.
Third, we want our venues to be packed to the rafters with people who really want to be there. Attending an Olympic Games is an 'I was there' moment and we want our tickets to this amazing event to be in the hands of sports fans.
I'm very pleased to tell you that more tickets than we previously announced will go on sale in March 2011. We have worked hard to model and remodel our venues and the sport competition schedule to create 800,000 more Olympic Games tickets, so we now have 8.8 million tickets available. These cover 19 days of competition across 26 sports and 39 disciplines, with more than 300 events and nearly 650 sport sessions. You can view our draft daily competition schedule to help you start planning your Games.
So how much are they?
Tickets for the men's 100m Final will start at £50, with the top price coming in at £725. But if you want to see the heats, you're looking at between £20 and £150.
If you want to see Sir Chris Hoy in the Track Cycling heats, there are tickets starting at £20. For the gold medal sessions, prices are between £50 and £325.
Equestrian events in Greenwich Park will be between £20 and £95 for preliminaries, moving to £35 to £275 for finals.
The question you're probably asking is: how much are tickets for the Opening Ceremony? This is where we will have the broadest range – tickets will start at £20.12 and the highest priced tickets will be £2,012. There will be an equal amount of these tickets available – plus ones in between.
When London won the right to stage to stage the Games, we pledged that we would use them to inspire young people to choose sport. Two new schemes will help us do just that.
A 'pay your age' scheme will operate across one-third of the sport sessions (1.3 million tickets). Young people aged 16 or under on the day of the Opening Ceremony – 27 July 2012 – will literally pay their age for a ticket. So a 12-year- old and an eight-year-old would pay £12 and £8 respectively. Through this scheme, a family of four with a 12-year-old and an eight-year-old can come to the Olympic Games for around £60.
But it's not just about young people. We are also offering special prices at these sessions to people who are 60 or over, who will pay £16 for a ticket.
Over the coming months, we will be telling you all about how you can buy tickets when they go on sale in March 2011. So what should you do now? If you haven't already, the best way to find out the latest news and information is to sign up and register your interest in London 2012 ticketing. Over the next five months, we will tell you everything you need to know about buying a ticket.
More than 1.7 million people have already signed up and are receiving regular updates on the sports they have expressed an interest in. Encourage your family and friends to sign up too!
