Ltaxpayers’ money should be used to buy tickets for a sporting event? One can ask the question when, on May 11, the kick-off of the second phase of the sale of tickets for the Olympic Games was given, and when, in order to keep part of the promise of an event ” popular “ formulated by Paris 2024 (the Organizing Committee), the State and local authorities will buy and distribute one million places free of charge – out of the 13.5 million offered for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP).
These operations were planned for a long time. The first phase of ticket sales, which ended in mid-March, gave them another reach. Paris 2024 may have argued that 400,000 tickets at 24 euros each found takers, or that 70% of the 3.25 million tickets sold did not exceed 100 euros, but that did not erase the misunderstanding vis sums to pay, anchoring the idea of Olympic Games that are inaccessible to many people. The start of the second sequence of sales confirms this feeling of exclusion, even if the million and a half places available will pass without difficulty.
For the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the State and the communities are “in their role” taking “the relay for those who do not have the means”. But is it really up to the public sphere to take charge of a popular dimension of the Olympic Games to which the Paris 2024 pricing policy does not fully respond? Is it up to public finances to ensure access to a show organized under the aegis of the International Olympic Committee, an entity brewing billions and benefiting from a certain number of tax exemptions?
Policies insist on the “societal dimension”
“I am not saying that the State should become a regular buyer of tickets [de spectacles sportifs]but, there, yes »consider Mme Oudéa-Castéra, which highlights the exceptional nature of the Games (the last time in France was in 1924) and the “societal dimension” of these ticket offices.
We can say to ourselves that the government and local elected officials are involved in politics and that it’s fair game – they say they contribute to the“acceptability” of the Games by targeting specific audiences (young people, volunteers from the sports movement, people with disabilities, etc.).
We can find that the sums committed (11 million euros for the State, 1 million for the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, for example) are not so heavy with regard to the budgets of these actors.
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