Tony Estanguet had long repeated: “selling” the Paralympic Games to the French public would not be easy. The president of the COJO Paris 2024 even assured that the challenge promised to be the most delicate to take on.
One week before the opening, the three-time Olympic champion can get back to sleep. The bet has not yet been fully successful, but a look at the ticketing curve is enough to no longer consider the worst before the “ return match ", to use the COJO’s formula.
At last count, Wednesday August 21, organizers sold 1,75 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. Not bad. They have sold around 700.000 since the start of the Olympic Games, proof that the much-hoped-for Olympics effect has worked.
In detail, it turns out that the vast majority of the public is made up of French people (92%). It was planned. Ile-de-France residents form the bulk of the troops (73%). Expected, too. For foreign spectators, the top 5 most represented countries are made up of the United Kingdom (27%), Germany (14%), the United States (10%), Belgium (7%), and the Netherlands (5%). Great performance: 144 countries appear on the global map of ticket buyers.
Sales took off, therefore. But the organizers, whetted their appetite by the popular success of the Olympic Games (9,5 million tickets sold), want more. As proof, their insistence on repeating to the media that the ticket office remains well stocked. “ There are still great opportunities”, summarizes Tony Estanguet.
At the top of the list, the opening ceremony, Wednesday August 28 on Place de la Concorde. More festive than sporty, the evening is not yet sold out. The COJO expects 50.000 spectators. They're not there. But the price of tickets, 150 euros at least, undoubtedly explains the difficulty in filling all the bays.
The closing ceremony, on September 8, at the Stade de France, is also not sold out. It is more affordable, with places available from 45 euros.
On the sporting field, the COJO's speech slightly lacks clarity. Monday August 12, the day after the end of the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet took advantage of a press conference a stone's throw from the Champs-Elysées, to announce that six sports were sold out. He also clarified that it was no longer possible to purchase discovery passes for the central Paris cluster.
Wednesday August 21, the organizing committee explained that “ certain sports popular with the public are now almost full”, including several announced sold outa week earlier: wheelchair fencing and para taekwondo at the Grand Palais, para track cycling at the national velodrome of St Quentin en Yvelines, para equestrian at the Château de Versailles, blind football at the Arena Champ de Mars. It is also still possible, finally, to buy discovery passes for central Paris, and for the wheelchair rugby finals at the Arena Champ de Mars, wheelchair basketball at the Arena Bercy and blind football at the Stade Tour Eiffel. The mysteries of ticketing.
For para athletics, filling the Stade de France from the first to the last day looks like a mission impossible. But the COJO announces having sold “ almost 500.000 tickets ». Unless there is a sudden stoppage, Paris 2024 should exceed the 530.000 places sold for the 2003 world athletics championships at the Stade de France. Very strong.
The IPC, for its part, is active on the diffusion front. The body announces that it has concluded a deal with YouTube to offer “ the most comprehensive coverage of the Paralympic Games to date ». It will be available for free in 175 countries around the world.
The dedicated channel will provide nearly 1.400 hours of live coverage of the 22 Paralympic sports, plus the opening and closing ceremonies. Offered in “multiview”, it will allow you to watch up to four streams of the Paralympic Games simultaneously.
As a bonus, the IPC and YouTube will put daily highlights online, more than 1.200 clips on the events, no less than 400 short films on major sporting moments and around forty others dedicated to athletes.
Finally, the two partners have joined forces to offer a documentary series in three parts, Rising Phoenix: Road to Tokyo. It followed 12 Paralympic athletes in their preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
