Ticket update: VANOC settles lawsuit by selling tickets to black-market dealer

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:35:03 PST

In an odd twist in the ongoing ticket wars for the Vancouver 2010 Games, organizers have settled a lawsuit with Roadtrips.com, an unauthorized ticket seller, by agreeing to funnel tickets to the Web travel company through its official travel partner, Jet Set Sports. See the story here.

Some new Olympic tickets appear for U.S. fans

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:15:04 PST

As I indicated yesterday, there will be much more comment here about the ongoing series in The Times about tickets and accommodation to the 2010 Winter Games, and to the Olympics in general. But when timely questions arise that merit immediate comment, I'll take them on here.

The first is the matter of tickets available, as of right now, on CoSport's Web site. A couple commenters on the first day story about ticket availability point out that tickets for a range of events seem to be available there, so what's the big deal?

Good question. Follow this timing:

-- Early last week, in the process of final fact checks for the ticket series, I checked the CoSport Web site. It listed individual tickets for closing ceremonies and some early round hockey games -- less desireable tickets that have been on sale on the Web site for weeks or months.

-- Last Tuesday, I asked CoSport/Jet Set President Mark Lewis whether any additional tickets for individual U.S. sale were likely to appear on the Web site -- beyond those I saw there that day. (This was part of reporting for a story that will appear this coming Wednesday about remaining ticket options for fans. Watch for that if you're still interested in going.)

-- Lewis responded by e-mail that day:

Ron,

Right now it appears that the only tickets available on a stand-alone basis will be the inventory which we already have and which is already on sale. We will continue to offer that inventory for sale until it is exhausted.

The hospitality packages and the premium ticket packages are also for sale and will remain so, but we could see some additional inventory available in these areas so people should check back from time to time if they don't see something they want. Note, however, that we don't change prices so people should not wait for any type of "sale" or discount because that is not our practice.

-- Today, after the first installment of our series, I checked the Web site and found new availabilty for events long sold out on CoSport's site, such as the women's downhill, ice dancing, women's luge, and freestyle skiing, in addition to the closing ceremony and preliminary hockey tickets found there earlier.

It could be a coincidence. Who knows.

Since no further ticket allotments from the Vancovuer Organizing Committee to the U.S. general public were expected, it is likely that these new tickets came from Jet Set Sports' sponsor allotment of tickets that were being held for sale in travel packages. In other words, they are tickets CoSport already had in reserve and decided to be made available to the public. I'll leave it to CoSport to explain why they were posted now.

We have no idea how many tickets are available in the the newly available categories. So if you want one, act fast.

Meantime: If the ongoing series raises other questions you'd like to see addressed here, please send them to me at rjudd@seattletimes.com.

Looking behind the 2010 Olympic curtain

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:18:03 PST

In case you missed it, the TImes begins a four-part series on the ticket and travel monopoly that makes attending the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver so out of reach for most Olympic fans. It's a rare glimpse inside the secretive, multi-billion dollar world of Olympic business. Part one answers a simple question: Who gets tickets to the Sea to Sky Games -- and why. Find it here.

More pieces Monday through Wednesday at Seattletimes.com will:

-- Profile Sead Dizdarevic, the colorful, controversial man behind a ticket/travel monopoly that continues to grow in power and scope.

-- Explore the interwoven relationships between people who run the Games and people who profit from them -- raising questions of conflicts of interest that likely would not be allowed in the traditional world of business or government.

-- Examine the thriving black market for Olympic tickets, which involves one of the Olympic Games' most enduring dirty secrets.

Lots more to come on all this in future days, after the series plays out.

The Seattle Times: Ron Judd's Olympics Insider

Ticket update: VANOC settles lawsuit by selling tickets to black-market dealer

Some new Olympic tickets appear for U.S. fans

Looking behind the 2010 Olympic curtain