More than a slogan, a philosophy. Since submitting the candidacy in 2016, the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) has constantly repeated that these Games, the first summer games organized in France since 1924, would be “popular” And “accessible to all”. Brandis as a standard in each speech, starting with those of the boss of the Games Tony Estanguet, these words, in the form of promises, ended up turning against the organizers, trapped in their own communication. Tested by the facts, criticism has indeed arisen on the price of seats, the method of drawing lots to buy tickets, but also the increase in public transport ticket prices or even accessibility for people in a situation of disability.
By deciding to focus its initial communication on this slogan of “Popular games”, Paris 2024 gave birth to dreams. “The promise was, I think, sincerely real, but we know well that reality is not necessarily always audible and understandable to the general public and that there can be gaps in understanding in terms of communication, or even a gap between promise and perception”, analyzes Magali Tézenas du Montcel, general director of Sporsora (a leading organization for thinking about and influencing the development of the sports economy) and expert in sports marketing.
“In essence, the Games are always subject to criticism”
According to her, this observation is the lot of the organizing countries. “Inherently, the Games, wherever they take place, are always subject to criticism, given the scale of the event and the challenges to be overcome. In London in 2012, we were predicted the worst. Just like in Barcelona in 1992. This will last until the opening ceremony, where the magic of the Games will operate.” The assumed desire to “break the codes” came to amplify this movement of openness to the general public, notably with the announcement of this opening ceremony for the first time outside a stadium. Several hundred thousand people will be able to attend it free of charge on the banks of the Seine. Other new operations: the marathon for all, open to the general public on the Olympic route, or the multiplication of free celebration sites…
But the first major tensions arose from the first phases of ticket sales, at the start of 2023. Whether buyers or those who decided to move on, many of them expressed their frustration, faced with this ticketing by drawing lots, denouncing exorbitant prices and the complexity of the purchasing formula. “Disgusted with the #OJ2024!! All because of the ticket system and the crazy prices!! Impossible to have the Olympics with the family. Do they really live on the sports planet on the organizing committee?” protested, among many others, a user of the social network one week after the opening of the first sales phase.
Ticket raid
“A million tickets [soit 10 % du total] are sold at 24 euros, and 50% are places for less than 50 euros [pour tous les sports]. Next to it, the other tickets [aux prix plus élevés, atteignant des centaines d’euros] must finance the Games. They balance the economic model. (…) These are the prices of major events”, Tony Estanguet defended himself on February 22 at the microphone of RTL, before emphasizing that the Paris 2024 Games were not “no more expensive than the London Games (2012) or to attend the Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup”. This model thus allows Cojop to maintain its objective of an organizational budget financed 96% by private revenue, of which ticketing and hospitality represent a third.
“Only 5 % of our tickets which are 400 euros or more and 10 % to 200 euros or more, argues Michaël Aloïsio, deputy general director of Paris 2024. But the general public’s perception is not that. Most people have only seen the remaining, more expensive tickets on the platform, which have a longer shelf life than the 24 euro tickets. HASToday, we have more tickets at 50 euros and less than all the tickets for a Football World Cup.” Aside from the lucky ones drawn quickly, many only had access to the most expensive tickets. Enough to make the bill steep for a family with modest incomes wanting to live the Olympic experience. However, the enthusiasm surrounding the Olympic Games has been confirmed since more than 7 million tickets out of the 10 million for sale have already found buyers.
“When you compare the prices with NBA tickets, or a concert, they are not outrageous. The promise was very strong, it certainly disappointed a lot of people, those who perhaps thought they could attend the Games for free.”
Magali Tézenas du Montcel, general director of Sporsora and expert in sports marketingat franceinfo: sport
“We sometimes forget that the Games remain, despite everything, a premium competition, the largest world event, with necessarily constraints very supervised by the IOC and costs which are linked to the quality and scale of the event” , summarizes this specialist. Because hosting the Olympic Games amounts to organizing world championships for each of the Olympic disciplines simultaneously on its territory.
Did the organizers quickly realize the risk of misunderstanding, and therefore anticipated a change in discourse as a result? Indeed, a few months before the launch of ticketing, the vocabulary used by Paris 2024 evolved. Exit them “Popular games”place for “Open games”. “Since we launched the signature ‘Let’s open the Games wide’ [en juillet 2022], we rather talk about ‘Open Games’ in all our communication, because the subject of accessibility and the openness of the Games has guided us from the start. It has become the signature and identity of the project.” affirms the deputy general director of Paris 2024, who dismisses any link between the criticisms and this change of slogan.
Delays and renunciation on accessibility
In the identity of the project, the organizers have also always placed great emphasis on the notion of accessibility for all, one of the major challenges for the success of the Games. At the end of November, the increase in transport ticket prices during the Games period was announced, even though in its application, Paris 2024 promised free travel for ticket holders. “We had crossed out this line, because for us there was an issue of budgetary balanceexplained Michaël Aloïsio, deputy general director of Paris 2024 to franceinfo at the end of November. There was also a reality of efficiency, there was no incentive for people to take public transport. Because to go to the sites, you will have to take them no matter what.”
David Roizen, expert associated with the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and specialist in issues related to sport, deciphered this change of direction in the same article: “It’s simple, the electoral promises made during the award ceremony in Lima in 2017 clash with the realities of Paris 2024. Proposing free transport to so many people is simply not tenable given the context.”
And what about the reception and transport of people with disabilities? The slogan of “Games open to all”, was intended for them in particular. “There is a gap between the Paris 2024 project which made it possible to win the Games and the state of affairs we have today,” regrets Pascale Ribes, president of APF France handicap. “If there has been progress on the tram, we will not be ready for the metro, where barely 3 % of Parisian stations are accessible to people in wheelchairs”, she notes. On housing, the results are not much better. “In Paris and Île-de-France, there are a little less than 3 000 adapted rooms, while we wait between 4 000 and 5 000 people in wheelchairs every day. “It’s a delay that we’re not going to make up for.” deplores Pascale Ribes, who nevertheless wants to keep “the Games as a lever” to obtain commitments on the legacy left in terms of accessibility.
If we look a little further, will there also be a legacy on the universality of these Games? At the end of October, the Le Revers de la Medal collective, bringing together nearly 70 associations, signed an open letter to denounce a “social cleansing” migrants and homeless people in the streets of the capital a few months before the start of the Olympics. “We are talking about the most exemplary and inclusive Games in history, but for the moment, this is not the case, alerts Paul Alauzy, spokesperson for the collective, currently in contact with Cojop and state services. The Olympics could be an opportunity to move the needle on welcoming people on the streets.”