SportBusiness.com

Downturn "will not impact Olympic crowds"

The 2012 Olympics in London will see packed stadiums despite the global economic downturn, Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Olympics organising committee said yesterday.

London organisers are determined to avoid a repeat of the empty seats witnessed at venues at the 2008 Beijing Games.

"I don't for one minute doubt we will have anything other than full stadia in this country," Coe told Reuters. "People 'get' sport whether it is at corporate level or whether it is among ordinary families like myself."

Around nine million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics will go on sale in 2011. Ticketing policy and prices are yet to be finalised.