The environmentalist and communist allies of the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo questioned her on Thursday about the ticket prices for the 2024 Olympic Games, deemed excessive when the elected socialist pledged to make it a "popular" event. The first phase of sales, at the end of which 3.25 million out of 10 tickets were sold, caused "a lot of disappointment", with a "complex" system and "few low-fare tickets", while the organizers communicated "on popular Games accessible to the greatest number", lamented the elected EELV Sylvain Raifaud during the Paris Council.
This first phase "has shown its limits", added the elected Communist Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, recalling the survey according to which "82% of French people consider the price of tickets to be excessive". Of the 10 million Olympic tickets, eight million are sold directly to the general public. The city of Paris will buy 43,000 and donate 50,000, with those obtained through the organizing committee's endowment fund. "It's not enough, we're asking for a lot more," said Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, recalling the city's updated net budget of €380 million for the Games.
The elected communist asked Anne Hidalgo "to intervene" with the organizing committee (Cojo) so that it "reviews its ticket office and gives free tickets to Parisians". The elected representative of the LR and related group Samia Badia-Karam also underlined the "low number of tickets acquired for Parisians among the million tickets distributed to communities". Like the right, Sylvain Raifaud asks that the town hall "communicate quickly on how it will allocate the tickets it has acquired".
"I am not going to defend the strategy of the Cojo, we have not been associated with it", replied the assistant for sports and the Olympic Games Pierre Rabadan, acknowledging a first phase of sale "partly disappointing". He promised them "transparency" on the city's ticket distribution. "The mayor of Paris has made the request" for additional tickets "but it is difficult because there is an economic balance that we are asking from the Cojo", indicated the former rugby player.
