Excitement is already building for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Although it is still a year and a half away, plans have been in the works for years. From July 26 to August 11, 2024, athletes and spectators from across the globe will descend upon the city. 329 events will take place across 32 different sports at 35 venues. Top athletes from 207 worldwide teams will compete for gold.
As Paris looks forward to welcoming visitors for the world’s largest sporting spectacle, organizers have announced plans for ticketing and hospitality. Anyone interested in attending the Olympic Games in Paris is encouraged to take action soon if they want to book tickets to any of the events.
What’s New In 2024?
Olympic officials have added a new sport to the roster for 2024. Breakdancing will make its official debut at the Paris Games. Dancers will compete in solo battles to bust the best moves to the DJ’s beats. Breakdancing’s inclusion is an attempt to appeal to a younger and more urban audience. In addition, other events that were added at the 2020 Olympics will return, including skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.
Several events have also been removed from the program – baseball, softball, and karate will not return to the Games in 2024.
In addition to the changes to sporting categories, organizers have also announced that all ticket holders will have free access to public transportation in Paris.
Venue Locations… Across The World?
The 35 Olympic venues are concentrated in three different areas – Paris, the Ile-de-France region, and further afield in France. Fourteen of the venues will be within 6 miles of the Olympic Village in Seine-Saint-Denis, just north of the city. Soccer, sailing, and surfing will be held in different locations. Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Marseille will all host soccer matches, and the sailing events will be in Marseille.
For Olympic fans who don’t want to travel to Paris to watch the Games, there is another option – the surfing competition will take place in Tahiti, which is an overseas territory of France, and home to some of the world’s biggest waves.
A First-Of-Its-Kind Hospitality Partnership
Additionally, Paris 2024 has partnered with hospitality brand On Location to offer fans a variety of customizable hospitality and travel packages that include guaranteed tickets to Olympic sporting events as well as hotels, transport, and non-sport activities. This is the first time an Olympic Games has partnered with a hospitality brand to offer such packages. Hospitality options include:
- Access to Clubhouse 24, a city center zone with food, music, and activities
- In-venue options such as a private lounge or box access
- Customizable travel packages
How To Buy Event Tickets
All tickets will be sold online and are available worldwide. No site other than the official site (tickets.paris2024.org) will have permission to sell tickets.
There are a few different types of tickets to choose from:
- “Make Your Games” ticket packs that include access to 3 different events
- Tickets to individual events, including the opening and closing ceremonies
- Hospitality and travel packages via On Location that include event tickets
On Location’s hospitality and travel packages that include guaranteed tickets to sporting events have just been released for sale.
Sales of individual tickets and “Make Your Games” packs are not as straightforward and will happen in two phases. In an attempt to make ticket sales fair and accessible to a wide audience, organizers have concocted a lottery system to allocate nearly 10 million tickets.
Prospective attendees need first to register their information with the ticketing site to be entered into a draw. Entrants will be chosen at random and be given a time slot in which they can purchase individual event tickets or “Make Your Games” ticket packs.
Important dates to note for Make Your Games ticket packs are:
- January 31, 2023 – anyone interested in buying a tailor-made Make Your Games pack must enter the draw
- February 13 – March 15 – the draw will take place, and participants will be awarded a 48-hour purchase slot where hospitality packs can be customized and purchased
Sales for individual event tickets will follow a similar procedure but will happen later in the Spring. Important dates for Individual tickets include:
- March – April 2023 – registration for the draw will be open
- Early May 2023 – the draw will take place, and purchase slots will be allocated
- May 2023 – purchase slots take place, and individual tickets can be bought
If you are unsuccessful at being selected in the draw, there will be other ticketing opportunities in the future, but the details of those have not yet been announced.