The first tickets for next year’s Tokyo Olympics went on sale yesterday, with Japanese residents able to enter a lottery to watch the sport of their choice.
Tickets for the 33 sports range from ¥2,500 (US$22.78) for general tickets to an eye-watering ¥300,000 for the best seats at the opening ceremony.
Those lucky enough to score the best seats for the showcase men’s 100m final are to pay ¥130,000.
Half of all tickets are to be priced at ¥8,000 or less and special tickets priced at ¥2,020 are available for families resident in Japan with children, seniors and people with impairments.
Prices for residents are “about the same as London 2012, but a little higher than the 2016 Rio Games,” senior 2020 marketing official Yuko Hayakawa said.
The lottery — only for residents of Japan during an initial period — runs until May 28, with successful applicants to be notified on June 20.
The Web site saw high demand upon opening, even though tickets are not sold on a first-come first-serve basis and everyone is to have an equal chance of getting tickets.
Overseas applicants are to be able to purchase tickets from June 15 via “authorized ticket resellers” in each country.
Organizers have not offered a precise number of tickets available as various stadium configurations are still being finalized, but they said it would be about the same as the 7.8 million tickets they estimated when bidding for the right to host the Games.
An estimated 70 to 80 percent would be allotted to Japanese residents with the rest going to overseas fans.
Tickets for the Paralympics are to become available this summer.
Fans wishing to start planning their applications can access the Web site at ticket.tokyo2020.org.
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