Olympic Ticket Sales Process Starts for Rio 2016

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Since yesterday (March 31) until April 30th, Brazilian residents are able to apply for tickets to the 2016 Olympic Games in the first of two pre-sale draws. According to reports, the online list opened at 2PM, and by 6PM reached the milestone of 400,000 entries.

Of the 7.5 million tickets that will be available for the Games, seventy percent are reserved for Brazilians or those residing in Brazil. There will be about 700 competitions in 42 sports during the 2016 Olympics, to be held during August 5-21, 2015 in Rio de Janeiro.

The results of this first ticket draw will be announced in June, and only those who entered the first draw will be able to apply in the second draw, which opens in July, with results in August of this year. There will also be a first-come-first-served online sales phase for Brazilian residents in October.

For Brazilian residents (requiring a CPF number, similar to a social security number in the U.S.), complete information on how to apply for tickets is available in English here on the official Rio 2016 web site.

Non-residents of Brazil will need to find out who is the authorized ticket re-seller (ATR) in their country by checking with the Rio 2016 organization.

“Each ATR will have its own sales process and fans should seek this information from the company that will sell tickets in their territory,” said Rio 2016 Ticketing Director Donovan Ferreti. “Any ATRs who are approved after March 31st, will be added to the list subsequently.”

The ticket prices listed are the face-value prices in Brazilian reais, as defined by Rio 2016. Each ATR has the right to charge a service fee of up to twenty percent of this value, capped at R$120 per ticket. Also only Visa cards will be accepted in the official sales process for Brazilian residents due to the sponsorship agreement.

Both residents and non-residents of Brazil will be able to purchase any remaining tickets at box offices in Brazil from June 2016 onwards. All the games will be held in the four Olympic Zones spread around Rio de Janeiro, with the exception of football (soccer), which will also hold matches in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília and Manaus.