VANOC sold $94.7 million of tickets to the 2010 Winter Olympics, according to its latest quarterly report.
The unaudited Nov. 1, 2008 to Jan. 31, 2009 statements released Wednesday do not show how many tickets were sold domestically or internationally. VANOC said ticket inventory for 120 of 170 events was exhausted. Sales are ongoing to corporate sponsors and governments. A second public sales window will happen this summer. Tickets to the 2010 Winter Paralympics go on sale May 6.
In December, VANOC said it made a $96 million credit guarantee to the Royal Bank to cover Visa ticket refunds. The VANOC budget was updated Jan. 30 to forecast $260.4 million in ticket revenue. The overall operations budget is $1.76 billion. So far, VANOC has recorded $612.6 million in operating revenues and $559.3 million in expenses. All but $55 million of the $580 million taxpayer-funded VANOC share of venue construction has been spent.
VANOC earned $145.9 million in deferred operating expenses during the quarter, compared to a $65.2 million deficit for the previous quarter. On a project-to-date basis, VANOC is $53.3 million in the black. VANOC received $242 million in deferred operating revenue in the quarter, including $87.2 million from the IOC, $12.1 million in international sponsorship payments, $54 million in domestic sponsorship payments and goods and services.
As of Jan. 31, VANOC had $189 million of cash and $27.8 million drawn against a credit facility. The new budget has a $50 million contingency for unanticipated costs and $27 million contingency for marketing revenue shortfalls.
The next report is due in June for the period ending April 30.
Bob Mackin reports for 24 Hours Vancouver and appears regularly on The Hook.
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