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USA Swimming has put single-session tickets on sale for the 2024 US Olympic Trials, including $15 prelims tickets on the short-ends of the pool.
The move comes as ticket sales continue to lag for the paradigm-shifting event at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
In a way, the decision is a ‘white flag’ of sorts on attendance for some sessions. Once a prelims ticket is sold for a seat, that eliminates the ability to sell that seat as a whole-day pass.
On the other hand, it allows more affordable access to the meet for families of the 1000-or-so swimmers who won’t qualify for semi-finals or finals heats in the evening to watch their athletes race in the morning.
The single-session tickets for each of 17 sessions are available at the corners of the pool and on the short-ends. The long end of the pool has generally been treated as the best vantage point so far and those tickets have been selling faster. This is the first time where USA Swimming is acknowledging that those seats are better and offering a differential pricing opportunity for the two areas – previously, all tickets within a given level were the same price, regardless of their angle to the pool.
Prelims single-session tickets range from $15 for the 600 level to $75 for the 100 level.
In finals, those same seats range from $35 in the 500 level to $174 for the 100 level.
Those tickets on the short ends of the pool are no longer available for full-day sale, but the single-session pricing represents a discount to the previous listed prices. When they were available as all-day passes, the total price was $56 in the 600 level to $268 in the 100 level. At the new prices, on the ends, a combined ticket will range from $50 in the 600 level to $249 in the 100 level.
While this new structure has made it difficult to get an accurate count of tickets available, internally USA Swimming is pushing a number of about 10,000 tickets sold per session so far (which implies a max capacity of about 34,000 seats).
The highest day has sold around 15,000 tickets, whereas the final day – with only two events, and typically the quietest day of the meet – has sold only around 5,000 tickets.
Discounts Coming?
USA Swimming’s internal conversations are projecting most days to hit 15,000 per day, which would surpass the official attendance in Omaha of 14,700 (inclusive of media and athlete seating). They think they can get one day to 20,000 fans.
New information is coming out about a proposed plan to discount ‘walk-up’ tickets for sessions. With 15,000-20,000 tickets per session expected to still be available, they will be sold for less money the day-of the events, meaning that those who bought early will get the best seats, but pay a premium for them, while others will have the opportunity to sit higher-up and further-back from the pool for a cheaper price.
That will be an opportunity for midwestern swim or sports fans, including the large swimming community in the state of Indiana, to drive in, attend finals, and head home for a cheaper price.
USA Swimming has not confirmed the details of that plan, though a source familiar with the conversations indicated that walk-up ticket discounts were being discussed.
A plan like this would help USA Swimming avoid some of the critique of a full-scale ticket discount while still maximizing the differential pricing opportunities for different segments of its audience.
Historical Look
While USA Swimming has optimistic projections that in spite of higher prices, there will still be more tickets sold in Indianapolis than there were in Omaha, they are so far behind schedule as compared to prior events.
- 2008/2012 Trials – Tickets were not sold out for all sessions in Omaha, but some sessions did sell out for the Qwest Center (2008)/CenturyLink Center (2012)
- 2016 Trials – Tickets sold out for the 14,000+ seat CenturyLink Center in late April/early May
- 2020 Trials – On the first pass, there were less than 1,000 tickets per session to sell on March 10th, which was D-Day for the COVID-19 pandemic. Those ticket sales were eventually all scrapped and the venue was re-sold, at a lower capacity, for the rescheduled 2021 Trials.
While ticket sales for the best seats have been strong, it seems like there will need to be some sort of action plan in order to fill out the 400, 500, and 600 level seats to create an atmosphere similar to the sold-out crowds in Omaha. So far, engaging clubs and LSCs to help push tickets hasn’t done a ton to move the needle.
Leave it to USA Swimming to move to larger stadiums once Phelps and Lochte are done. Impeccable timing. Should provide discounts to anyone who has paid USA Swimming dues and maybe increase based on years paid in their database. Throw a bone to their supportors.
So it’s cheaper to buy two separate tickets for each session than a day ticket? That is odd. I know this has been said a million times but their approach to this has been a fail.
Well you can no longer buy those seats as a single-day session. So basically it’s cheaper to buy end tickets than mid-pool tickets.
and you know you can always give yourself the “complimentary” upgrade in empty seats that are closer.