Source: www.guadalajara2011.org

With just 170 days to go until the most important sporting event in the American Continent, the Organizing Committee for the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games announced the sale of tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies and for the sports competitions.

The announcement was made at the official Pan American Family hotel, El Presidente Intercontinental, by COPAG executives including General Director Carlos Andrade Garin, Sports and Operations Director Ivar Sisniega Campbell, Marketing Director Horacio de la Vega and Communications Director Federico Torres Lopez, who offered information about the process of acquiring tickets to the Pan American events.

Ivar Sisniega, spoke about the work that the technical sports area has done in conjunction with the marketing department to define the event sessions for which to sell tickets. During the Games, there will 420 sporting sessions of which 203 will be preliminary rounds, 68 will be quarterfinals and 139 will be finals where medal awards ceremonies will take place.

“There will be 1.4m seats available with about 100,000 of those to be distributed to the press, TV production, PASO VIPs, National Olympic Committees as well as for athletes to attend competitions for their own sports. The rest of the tickets, 1,390,000, will be available for sale,” explained Ivar Sisniega.

May 13 is the launch of the public ticket sale through the Games’ official ticketing agency Ticketmaster, online at www.ticketmaster.com.mx and by phone (+52 33) 3818-38 00 and (+52 55) 5325-9000. In the official Guadalajara 2011 website (www.guadalajara2011.org.mx), anyone can register to obtain certain additional benefits toward purchasing tickets.

Starting on July 6, ticket outlets will be installed: 4 in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, 1 in Puerto Vallarta, 2 mobile ticket booths, and shortly after, 13 ticket booths will open at several of the Pan American sports venues.

“Ticketmaster will enforce a limit of 8 tickets per person in order to prevent reselling practices. There will be a special sale for Scotiabank cardholders and for people who register on our internet page up until May 11” added Horacio de la Vega.

The marketing director also announced that ticket pricing will be accessible for the competitions, with $114.00 Mexican pesos being the average price, $450.00 for the most expensive and $20.00 for the least expensive.

For the opening ceremony prices range from $560 to $3,500 Mexican pesos while for the closing ceremony, the prices range from $280 to $2,200 pesos.

“The sale of tickets will be reinforced through several marketing campaigns in the sports venues and nearby areas as well as with spots in the radio, television, print press and in external markets,” informed de le Vega.

Besides individual sales, there will be packages combining several sports and to which a 30 per cent discount will be applied at purchase time. Students and teachers will also get the same level of discount and corporations may purchase group tickets. Incoming visitors will be able to buy packages that would include transportation, hotels and other benefits.

Marketing partners will play a key role in terms of promoting the event as they have several initiatives underway to ensure everyone is part of these events.

Carlos Andrade Garin called for ticket sales to be promoted in order to encourage people to get their tickets from day one of the launch.

“Each day, we feel a little closer to the Pan American Games. We have seen great response by many companies interested in getting tickets. I can almost assure everyone that for the opening ceremony, tickets will run out within a couple of days of the ticket launch,” expressed Andrade Garin.

Committed to Social Causes
The Organizing Committee wants to include everyone in celebrating America’s Fiesta; as such, 10 per cent of the tickets will be set aside for several organizations. COPAG is already processing several requests in order to facilitate tickets to the entities in most need.

The Jalisco Office of Social Assistance as well as the Jalisco Human Development Department have contacted COPAG in order to secure tickets to the competitive events for several of the people that receive support from these agencies.

Carlos Andrade Garin also announced that about 2,153 athletes from the Jalisco selection will have a seat at the opening ceremony since the project originated thanks to the growth and greatness of the state’s athletes.