A charitable ticketing scheme will give everyone who buys tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games the opportunity to donate 2 euros to help people living in low-income households experience the Games in 2024.
True to its ambition to open the Games to as many people as possible, Paris 2024 has created a number of initiatives so that those who may normally miss out on major sporting and cultural events can attend the Games in person.
Paris 2024 is launching a charitable ticketing scheme in partnership with the French charity Secours populaire. Everyone who buys tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will have the opportunity to donate 2 euros to help people living in low-income households experience this unique event for themselves in 2024.
Games for all
From the start, Paris 2024 and its President Tony Estanguet have sought to make the 2024 Games open and accessible to as many people as possible.
This desire to share the unique emotions of the Games is particularly reflected in the Paris 2024 ticketing programme: firstly, in the affordable ticket price structure, with tickets for all sports available for as little as 24 euros for the Olympic Games and 15 euros for the Paralympic Games, and with around 50% of public tickets costing 50 euros or less; secondly, in the direct funding of the purchase of 100,000 tickets for disadvantaged members of society; and, finally, in the opportunity given to the host local authorities to acquire one million tickets to support their social projects linked to the Paris 2024 Games.
As the final link in this chain of solidarity, Paris 2024 has devised a charitable ticketing scheme in consultation with entrepreneur Alexandre Mars, Paris 2024 ambassador and board member.
The initiative will allow people living in low-income households experience the Olympic and Paralympic Games firsthand. It will benefit people who would otherwise struggle to attend the Games and would only watch on TV, including families, young people, people with disabilities and senior citizens.
"We want as many people as possible to be able to experience the Games and to feel the emotions and sense of togetherness that they bring," Estanguet said. "To achieve this goal, Paris 2024 has launched a number of initiatives to enable people living in low-income households, who are often excluded from major sports events, to attend the Paris 2024 Games in person.
"This charitable ticketing scheme, which we have created in partnership with entrepreneur Alexandre Mars and the French charity Secours populaire, will help us to provide Games Wide Open by giving the whole public the chance to play a part in this great show of solidarity.”
Next year's Olympics are set to mark a return of spectators
after Tokyo 2020 was almost entirely held behind closed doors ©Getty Images
An opportunity to donate with every order placed
The charitable ticketing scheme, which will be launched when the sale of Olympic Games ticket packs opens on 15 February, will operate during every phase of the public ticketing programme.
Every purchaser will be invited to make a fixed donation of 2 euros when they pay for their tickets.
The money donated will be used to pay for the tickets and travel costs of the initiative's beneficiaries.
The funds collected will be given to the French charity Secours populaire, which has had close links with sport and experience of charitable ticketing programmes spanning many years.
"Secours populaire is delighted to benefit from the charitable ticketing scheme initiative," said the organisation's national secretary Thierry Robert. "The scheme will offer young people and people in low-income households the chance to experience the emotions of live sport at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"Our ambition (is) to democratise sports activities, which are recognised for having various benefits and yet are a source of great inequality. Working towards this is an honour for the 90,000 volunteers of the association who devote themselves in the 1,300 solidarity centres and offer their help to 3.5 million people in France and throughout the world. With your support, this solidarity initiative will give Secours populaire the resources to further act and expand its action around sport."
Secours populaire widens access to sport by covering the cost of annual registration fees, sports equipment, swimming lessons and sports holidays. It also helps thousands of people attend major sports events, giving them the chance to make lifelong memories and discover new passions and vocations.