6.8 Million Tickets Sold for Paris 2024; Opening Ceremony Plans Revealed

Organizers for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris announced 6.8 million tickets have been sold for the Games with 14 months before the Opening Ceremony — while France’s government, the organizing committee president for the Games and Paris’ mayor signed an 11-page security protocol Tuesday that for the first time publicly laid out some details of the planning for the July 26 event.

Tony Estanguet, the organizing committee president, said the second ticketing phase exceeded expectations despite some fans and athletes complaining about hefty prices. The cheapest tickets were $26 for events and were quickly snapped up, leaving 200,000 low-cost seats available in a later round to the frustration of many buyers. The most expensive tickets are $2,900 for the Opening Ceremony.

“There is a very big appetite among the public, French and international,” Estanguet said. “It is an important success in terms of sales. It’s rather a good news for the Paris 2024 Games.”

A total of 5.2 million tickets have been sold to the general public across the first two phases with 1.6 million going to corporate partners and others. More tickets will be put on the market this summer, without a lottery, and a resale platform is set to open in 2024.

Organizers did not give a detailed breakdown by country but said the biggest sales during the second phase were in France, followed by Britain, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Soccer was the top seller, followed by basketball and handball.

The Opening Ceremony tickets are the most expensive in part because of tradition and in part because of Paris organizers’ unique plans to have the event along the River Seine. But in the security protocol reported on Tuesday, thousands of spectators who will watch the open-air gala along a 3 1/2-mile parade route on the River Seine will need to pre-register for tickets. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, in charge of security, had been pushing for a shift so non-paying spectators can be allocated spots on the river’s upper embankments, separated from 100,000 others paying for a closer, waterside view.

“When France organizes the Games — the last time was 100 years ago — it does so with ambition,” Estanguet said. “It’s a challenge to organize a ceremony with these conditions but, again, it’s the biggest audience that France will ever have had, the most beautiful showcase. Our responsibility is to create dreams, to show how incredible this country is.”

Athletes will be paraded from east to west along the river aboard 91 boats, with 25 other craft in reserve for breakdowns or other needs. There will also be about 30 boats for security. There will be trial runs starting in July; the whole event, including the parade to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, an artistic and musical show and the official ceremony with the lighting of the Olympic flame is expected to last about 3 1/2 hours.

The Olympic Summer Games run from July 26 through August 11, 2024, with feature 32 sports and 48 disciplines across 37 sites. The Paralympic Games take place from August 28 through September 8 with ticket sales beginning in autumn 2023.