体坛英语新闻：London Games ticket pricing not confirmed yet: chairman Coe

LONDON, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) hasn't decide the ticket pricing for the 2012 Games, revealed chairman Sebastian Coe on Friday.

The 2012 London Olympic Games will welcome two-year countdown next Tuesday and the LOCOG has promised that all of the venues will be completed ahead of the same period of next year, but "we are still a little way of confirming our ticket pricing," said Coe on an telephone interview with foreign media.

"What we can tell you is that our ticket strategy is based on three key propositions. Firstly, we need to maximize ticket revenue. Nearly a quarter of the organizing committee budget is predicated on ticket sales, it's a large part of our funding programme," said Coe.

"Secondly, we've called for full stadiums...And we also need to make sure that the prices allow the people that really want to be in there inspiring ideally a young generation of competitors. To make sure it's affordable."

Coe once said that they have been thinking full stadium clearly as one of their key missions from the moment they became a host city.

"We have spent a lot of time thinking how we can make our venues not only full but also really understanding more about ticketing strategy, the psychology about ticket purchase. Looking at the Games not just simply sport by sport but breaking those sports down session by session, " said the former Olympic champion.

LOCOG announced this March that more tickets will go on sale for the Olympic Games than originally stated, increasing from 7.7 million to 8 million. 75 percent of tickets will be available directly to the public via a ballot process and tickets will go on sale from spring 2011.