Expensive tickets: "Unfortunately I have to stay out" Opening of the 2026 Winter Olympics

On 6 February, from 20:00-23:00, the 2026 Winter Olympics will open at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan. The stadium has 75,725 seats. For the opening ceremony, regular tickets are available for 260 euros, 700 euros, 1,400 euros and 2026 euros. Under 26-year-olds can get two tickets for the price of a 260 euro ticket.

On Location sells so-called ‘hospitality packages’ exclusively for the games. The premium version for €8,950 per capita includes a stadium ticket of the most expensive category, an Italian-inspired three-course menu, as well as a buffet of wine, beer and soft drinks in an atmosphere guided by the sporting theme, which is intended to include curated art, authentic memorabilia and live ‘coverage’.
On Location is the ‘Premium Experiential Hospitality’ offshoot of the New York Stock Exchange-listed premium sports and entertainment group TKO, whose largest shareholders include the former employer of the Chancellor and the world's largest asset manager Blackrock, Vanguard and the US investment bank Morgan Stanley. So far they have gone 2.8 billion US-Doller sales of TKO primarily go back to Ultimate Fighting Championship, World Wrestling Entertainment and Professional Bull Riders. That's changing now. On Location and the IOC have signed a four-year contract from 2025 to 2028, which includes the matches of Milan 2026 and LA 2028. Expected for this period TKO $2 billion IOC revenue, or $490 million annually.

Depending on the inclusion/exclusion of the hospitality packages, catering, the secondary market and promorates, the sales estimates for the opening ceremony vary between 66 million and 90 million euros, which corresponds to an average price of about 870 euros or 1200 euros per spectator. This is 20 to 27 times an average HSV home game price of about 42 euros¹. Or: All 17 home games of a season and more than half of the next season combined.

The cost of the Olympic broadcasting rights of ARD and ZDF in the period from 2018 to 2024 There were 221.5 million Euro + VAT. The costs for the transmission from Milan 2026 to Brisbane 2032 have not yet been published. The transfer rights are the largest revenue item of the IOC.

Eckart Maudrich, spokesperson for NOlympia:

‘Since the Olympic Charter in 1991 saw the Olympic Games take shape from an amateur to a purely professional sporting event, the resourceful Swiss private association IOC has developed its brand into an event platform whose ecosystem in 2026 now includes investment bankers and asset managers whose shareholdings indicate lucrative revenues and profits. With average prices of around 900 to 1200 euros per spectator, the opening ceremony of the Winter Games sends a clear signal as to who belongs to the Olympic family – and who does not. Even future ice princesses will probably not be able to solve the 280 euro entry ticket for a suburban experience of the cheapest figure skating competitions with their families and many other competitions. It remains the matte screen at home for which the GEZ payers pay via ARD and ZDF. Hamburgers should keep this reality of fulfilling the promises of participation in the referendum on 31 May in mind. ”

1 HSV Fussball AG: Annual accounts as at 30.06.2024, p.12, 23. Audience average 55,847, gaming revenues 48,486,000€, of which S.Donetzk approximately 5 million; 18 home games.