Deighton: London 2012 tickets will still be affordable

LONDON 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton insists a proportion of Olympic tickets will still be affordable and accessible but admitted no figures have been finalised.

 CHEAP AS CHIPS? Locog chief Paul Deighton confirms price strategy of tickets for London 2012 will not ready until next year

The London Organising Committee today confirmed its 23rd domestic sponsor as travel operator Thomas Cook - a tier two sponsorship that could be worth up £20million.

As Locog strive to avoid the mistakes made by Beijing 2008 organisers, which saw a number of near empty stadiums, accessibility and affordability have become buzz words for London's ticketing strategy.

When the detailed bid for the Games was launched in 2004, the London 2012 team announced the lowest prices would start at £15 and more than half of them would be £30.

But Locog have since admitted that is no longer the case and Deighton revealed a pricing strategy would not be in place until next year.

"In terms of where we are on pricing, we are still in the process of working it through and over the course of the next 12 months," he said.

"So this is something we still need to work through.

"Our underlying philosophy is that the atmosphere in all of the stadia is as electric as we can possibly make it.

"But we have not yet determined the prices of tickets but there is a general principle that there will be a proportion of tickets that are accessible or affordable."

Thomas Cook, who will receive approximately three per cent of tickets for distribution, will be the exclusive package provider for the 2012 Olympics within the UK.

Deighton confirmed that three percent will range across all 26 sports as well as tickets for the Paralympic Games and believes the new partnership will ensure national and not just capital support for the Games.

"The tickets will be spread right across every single sport and across the Paralympics so we are hoping that will address the issue of filling stadia for sports that are not so in demand as well as those that are in demand," he added.

"We will have to work hard with Thomas Cook to make sure that some of these sports that are not so popular still have people going to them.

"Ticketing is just one aspect of how we are committed to making sure that people from around the UK get access to the Games.

"And those people are already using packages such as the ones Thomas Cook will offer to travel to football matches or the theatre. So we thought we'd leave it to the experts."

Last weekend's World Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the O2 gave the capital a glimpse of what to expect in three years, but with prices ranging as high as £60, not all supporters were impressed.

But those who did pay full whack at the O2, set to be named the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 for sponsorship reasons, saw Britain's Beth Tweddle claim gold in the floor exercise.

And Deighton believes British success between now and the Olympic Games will ensure it is not just the athletics finals that attract full houses in 2012.

"We saw Beth Tweddle doing brilliantly at the weekend and that will hopefully sell a lot of gymnastics tickets for example," said Deighton.

"Indeed one of the pledges of the Games is to try and make sure that everyone goes to see a sport that they normally wouldn't see."