Vancouver 2010 Phase 3 Ticket Sales postponed to November 14

VANCOUVER , Nov. 7 /CNW/ - Visitors hoping to purchase Olympic and Paralympic tickets today at www.vancouver2010.com were not able to access the site as previously planned and as a result, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has made the decision to postpone the start of Phase 3 ticket sales to Saturday, November 14 at 10am Pacific Time .

Tickets.com, the Official ticket service provider for Vancouver 2010, experienced difficulties with the configuration between the virtual waiting room and the ticketing transaction site.

"On behalf of Tickets.com, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience visitors to the Vancouver 2010 ticketing site experienced this morning," said Larry Witherspoon , CEO, Tickets.com. "Our team is working hard to resolve the issue and appreciate the patience of Canadian Olympic and Paralympic fans."

"We are disappointed that people wanting to purchase tickets today did not receive the chance to do so - this is the first time we have had such an issue," said Caley Denton, vice president of ticketing for VANOC. "Even though it appears the problem is close to being resolved, we made the decision to postpone the sale of Phase 3 ticket sales for one week as our priority has always been to ensure fair access to Canadian residents and to allow sufficient time to plan accordingly."

"We are also able to confirm a few hundred tickets were sold to customers primarily through the call centre. The equivalent number of tickets sold today for each event will be pulled from the Olympic Family contingency pool and added to the November 14 public ticket sale."

About VANOC

VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com for more information.

For further information: Media Contact: Greg Alexis, VANOC Communications, [phone], [email protected]