Ticket revenue target topped
With 11 days left to go before the end of the Games, organizers said yesterday they have exceeded their ticket revenue target of 183 million euros. According to Athens 2004 spokesman Michalis Zacharatos, Monday’s sales of 83,084 tickets brought the grand total up to 3,085,936. «We have now exceeded our financial target, with revenue standing at 183,518,000 euros,» he told a press conference. Nevertheless, some 40 percent of the 5.3 million tickets available for the Games have not yet attracted buyers, and, if sales progress at the current rate, organizers could find themselves with over a million unsold tickets on their hands at the end of the Olympics. Despite initially hinting that free tickets might be made available in order to pull together decent-sized crowds at Olympic venues, the government has denied plans to buy up seats. And Athens 2004 has firmly ruled out the prospect of anyone receiving free tickets.
