Last chance for Olympic glory
MoneySense, Feb/Mar 2010

With just a couple of weeks to go until the Olympics, you may think it’s far too late to get tickets. But it turns out there are more ways than ever to get them—and some are still selling at bargain prices.

New tickets

Your best bet for getting tickets directly from the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) is to keep checking their website, www.vancouver2010.com. More new tickets may be released if sponsors return them or if venue configurations change. VANOC’s tickets generally sell for between $25 and $175, although some popular events, such as figure skating, run around $450. VANOC is also offering tickets by auction. Bobsleigh and speed skating were selling for $200 to $300 each in late January. The only authorized Olympic ticket vendor in the U.S. and Canada, CoSport (https://vancouver.jetsetsports.net/tickets/), might also have tickets, although its mark-ups can be high.

Ticket brokers

There are a plethora of scalpers—ahem, ticket brokers—selling tickets online, and there will likely be scalpers outside of Olympic venues too. But even though scalping is legal in B.C., you need to be careful. Some fans who bought tickets online for the Beijing Olympics never received them or ended up with counterfeits. Avoid eBay and Craigslist, and look for a professional broker that is a member of a trade association, such as The Canadian Ticket Brokers Association or the National Association of Ticket Brokers. Use a credit card and avoid low-ball offers that might be scams. Be flexible and you’ll have a good chance of getting a bargain. For example, as countries are knocked out of competition, often people from those countries decide to sell their tickets to brokers, and prices drop. Mario Livich of ShowTimeTickets.com, a Vancouver ticket broker, says if Canada is in the men’s hockey gold medal game, tickets will be worth $3,000 to $5,000 each, but if not, they could go for as low as $600. You can also aim for less popular events, such as early round hockey and curling. As of late Jan­uary, brokers were selling tickets for all events, with prices ranging from $100 (biathlon) to $2,000 (figure skating).

Fan-to-fan

In December, VANOC decided to fight back against brokers by launching its own ticket resale marketplace (you’ll need to register to see the fan-to-fan tickets). Tickets are subject to fees, but they are verified as legitimate. In late January, most of the fan-to-fan tickets were selling for $75 to $275. But you’ll need Visa—it’s the only payment accepted.