From CBC Sports:

Another 150,000 tickets for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler will go on sale on June 6, the Vancouver Organizing Committee announced on Friday.

Tickets for every sporting event, as well as the Opening, Closing and nightly Victory Ceremonies, will be available on a first-come, first-served basis online starting at 10 a.m. PT, said officials.

“This is a major release of tickets before the 2010 Winter Games, and is the best remaining opportunity for Canadian Olympic fans to get their hands on tickets,” said Caley Denton, vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing for VANOC.

In addition, thousands of Victory Ceremony tickets will be available as single tickets for $22. The nightly ceremonies at BC Place in downtown Vancouver will pay tribute to the medal-winning athletes and will feature a musical concert.

“We’re still working to secure artists and get that all lined up,” said Denton.

“It’s a case of people are in town and want to plan their Olympic experience and we want to make sure its available for them to do that.”

Tickets will be sold online at www.vancouver2010.com. Customers will be directed to a virtual waiting room, where they will be randomly selected to enter the Vancouver 2010 ticketing website.

Once signed into their account, customers will be able to purchase tickets to as many as six separate events, with a limit of either four or eight tickets per event. If a customer wants to order more than the limit of six events, they will need to start a new transaction.

There will be approximately 1.6 million tickets in total for the Olympic events, which run from Feb. 12 to 28, 2010.

While at past Games such events have been free, VANOC has said they feel charging a fee will ensure people actually end up in the seats.

The tickets were previously for sale only as part of Olympic experience packages, which were sold during Phase One of Games ticket sales in the fall.

High-demand in the first round of sales saw seats at 120 of 170 events allocated by lottery.

Altogether, VANOC wants to make $260 million off ticket sales with much of that revenue pegged on sales to sponsors, national Olympic committees and other partners.

Denton said despite the economy, they are still seeing strong demand for tickets from those groups.

Helpful tips

• Previously registered customers are advised to sign into their ticketing account before June 6 to ensure their username and password are up-to-date.
• New customers without an existing account can save time by pre-registering before June 6.
• The Competition Schedule, including the draws for the ice hockey tournaments for the Games and ticket prices, is posted onwww.vancouver2010.com to make it easier for customers to plan their ticket-buying strategy.
• Visa is the only credit card accepted, but customers can also mail in a cheque.
• Entry to the system is random — refreshing the web page will not reduce your wait time.
• Plan ahead and ensure you have sufficient credit available in your account, as purchases will be charged immediately.
• Be wary of tickets offered for sale through unofficial channel and offers of “guaranteed” tickets for sale.
• Customers may also purchase tickets by phone at 1-800-842-5287, and a TDD/TTY service is available for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing at 604-629-7140.

With files from The Canadian Press