Public To Get Priority For London 2012 Tickets

AFP reports the general public will be given priority for tickets for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games and everything possible will be done to fill the stadiums, according to Paul Deighton, chief executive of LOCOG.

The organizing committee wants to avoid empty seats that were at some venues during the Beijing 2008 Games.

Deighton told the Guardian newspaper, "we'll have 75 per cent of the total tickets in the ballot for the general public. Compared to a football World Cup final or a rugby World Cup, that's a really high number. They've tended to have a much higher percentage of corporate tickets to get the yield up. Of the remaining 25 per cent, about 16 per cent will be sold to the international general public through the respective National Olympic Committees.

"The remaining nine per cent gets distributed to corporate hospitality, broadcasters and the IOC. So we're treating people right".

He said, "we'll do everything we can to keep the stadiums full - and the way to do that is to place tickets with people who really want to come".

Deighton added the Beijing Olympics featured six-hour-long sessions of beach volleyball. "Now you might be the world's greatest beach volleyball fan but no one wants to sit through six hours. So we've shortened the sessions and we want to make tickets accessible and affordable".