How to score 2010 Olympic tickets; last big batch goes on sale Thursday

Looking for tickets to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler?

The last sizable block likely to be available to Americans goes up for sale online Thursday morning. Here are some answers to questions about how, where and when to get them:

Question: Who's selling the tickets?

Answer: CoSport, the exclusive U.S. ticketing agency, which sells the tickets under a contract with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Q: How many are there, and for which events?

A: CoSport will sell nearly 40,000 tickets, first-come, first-served. The company says the tickets cover a wide spectrum of events, including medal-round performances of "high-demand" sports. CoSport has not released a ticket breakdown beyond that.

Q: What's the process?

A: Those who have not done so must preregister at www.cosport.comby 6 a.m. PDT Thursday. (To register, click the "Don't have an account?" link below the "Account login" window on the left side of the home page. Or, just go to this link: www.cosport.com/country.aspx.) You'll need to provide address information and a valid credit-card number to establish a username and password necessary to buy tickets.

The sale is set to begin at 11 a.m. PDT Thursday, and will continue until all tickets are sold.

Q: Has CoSport beefed up its infrastructure to prevent the sort of system crashes that happened during the February sale?

A: It says it has, although it acknowledges that no system is immune to failure if vast numbers of customers attempt to use it at the same time. Patience is advised.

Q: What is the ticket price range?

A: It's all over the map. Depending on seat quality, prices range from $54 and $114 for the four-man bobsled final to $135 and $200 for the men's downhill and $678 and $930 for the gold-medal hockey match, assuming those might be available (figures are in U.S. dollars). The company charges a markup of about one-third over prices for the same tickets sold in a separate process to Canadian residents.

Q: Are there other charges?

A: Unless you want to wait in a will-call line in Vancouver, you'll pay $35 to have your tickets mailed to you.

Q: Is there a ticket limit?

A: It's 48 tickets per customer. CoSport also mentions an additional "per-session" limit, though it's not clear what that is.

Q: How does this ticket sale compare in size and scope with earlier U.S. ticket sales?

A: CoSport's first ticket phase, last fall, distributed about 48,000 tickets to fans who filled out ticket requests, which were submitted to a computer lottery. An additional 7,000 tickets went in an online-only sale in February, open only to purchasers who had participated in the first phase.

Q: I tried to get tickets in the first phase and got shut out. Does that give me preference in this round?

A: No.

Q: How many Vancouver Olympics tickets are being sold worldwide?

A: About 1.6 million. The U.S. share announced for sale to date is about 5.5 percent of the total, although the percentage actually allocated to individual U.S. ticket buyers is significantly lower. CoSport's parent company, Jet Set Sports, transferred significant numbers of tickets from its all-inclusive Olympics-package travel business to the individual sales market. Demand for Vancouver tickets has far outstripped that for previous North American Olympic Games.

Q: Are medal-ceremony tickets included in the sale?

A: No. Tickets to nightly medal ceremonies at B.C. Place in Vancouver and at a central plaza in Whistler will be sold through a separate process in Canada.

Q: Will additional tickets be sold later, after other nations turn in unused ones?

A: It's possible, although numbers are likely to be small.

Q: Can I buy tickets from third-party vendors in Canada?

A: Yes. But be prepared to pay huge markups over list prices.

Ron Judd: 206-464-8280 or at rjudd@seattletimes.com