Slowly but surely the first details about next year’s Eurovision Song Contest are being revealed. This includes the information released today regarding the ticket prices for the event. The sale of the tickets will be launched in mid-December and the prices will be in the range from 30 up to several hundred euros.
Approximately 100,000 official tickets in a wide range of categories, prices and packages for a total of nine shows will go on sale just before Christmas, said ORF’s General Director Alexander Wrabetz. “We hope that many people will opt for a package”, he continued. A portion of the tickets is already reserved for the international fans, and another portion for the official fan clubs. The rest is set for the general public, but there won’t be any ‘free tickets for anyone’, Wrabetz added. “However, we will ensure that the Eurovision Song Contest is going to be a special experience for as many people possible – also for those to whom even the cheapest tickets are too expensive. The priciest tickets will be in around the same as for Eurovision 2014”, said ORF’s General Director. The VIP category tickets in Copenhagen were priced at around 300 euros.
Although the launch of the ticket sales was previously planned for mid-November, the organisers have postponed the plan for a whole month because an official ticketing partner hasn’t been found yet. It is now quite safe to say that the tickets will be made available a ‘tick before mid-December’ – a perfect time to purchase them as a Christmas present, Wrabetz continued. In the meantime, there are other outstanding issues which need to be resolved, such as the locations for the Eurovision Village and the Euroclub. Currently, there are several ‘top locations’ that are being checked for these venues, so Wrabetz.
Not only those who want to purchase tickets, but also the ones who want to take the advantage of the event’s immense advertising value must make haste. According to Wrabetz, a big chunk of the sponsorship packages is already sold. Nonetheless, ORF is still searching for small and medium sponsors who will cater for ‘Austria’s finest experience’ to some 1600 journalists expected to provide coverage of the event. Even the applications for the 700 volunteers, for which ORF announced their search a few days ago, have already been accumulating.
“Albeit the fact that the budget and the timetable have been established, there’s still much to do”, said Wrabetz. Next on schedule is the official Eurovision key handover ceremony, planned for January. And, on 20th February, ORF will start with their shows for choosing Austria’s representative for Eurovision 2015. Wrabetz said that the Austrian public is to expect a ‘smart and impressive’ concept for their national selection.
