So London 2012 has finally unveiled their pricing structure for 2012 Paralympic tickets and things look; well... surprisingly cheap!

The key stats: more than 95 per cent of the tickets will be priced at £50 ($82) or under, with 75 per cent going for no more than £20 ($33) and 50 per available at £10 ($16) or less.

Factor in that a London Travelcard is included within the price of a ticket for the day of the event and the word bargain springs to mind.

The pricing structure appears to be in stark contrast to that at Olympic Games where is costs up to £750 ($1,228) for a seat in the Olympic Stadium and the night of the men's 100 metre final and an eye watering £2,012 ($3,294) for a good spot in stands as the Opening Ceremony takes place.

As well as the criticism over Olympic ticket prices, the fact that money is taken from accounts before applicants know which events they have secured has come under fire.

Applicants were originally told to make sure they had enough money in their accounts from May 10 to June 10 but organisers now say people will not be billed until next Monday at the earliest while they carry out ballots for oversubscribed events.

There is unlikely to be nearly as much trouble or criticism when it comes to purchasing a Paralympic ticket but one is entitle to raise an eyebrow about why it is apparently so cheap to go to the London 2012 Paralympics when it is so expensive for an Olympic ticket.

Simple answer is that the Paralympics have not yet reached the same popularity level as the Olympics and therefore cannot yet command the same ticket prices.

It is down to supply and demand.

This is not to suggest that Paralympic sport is less entertaining than Olympic sport.

On the contrary, I was far more entertained as a spectator watching wheelchair racing star Dave Weir storm to gold at the QEII Stadium in the IPC World Athletics Championships in Christchurch in January than I was watching sprinter Mark Lewis take silver at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

This is only to suggest that the general public in the UK know far more about Olympic sport than they do Paralympic sport at present.

Olympic names like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Sir Chris Hoy are house-hold.

Outside Oscar Pistorius (pictured) – who is probably better known as the "Blade-Runner" – not many of your friends could give you a list of top Paralympians.


This however, is where London 2012's Paralympic ticket strategy may be a masterstroke.

Let's just think about it realistically.

More than 20 million ticket applications have been made for 6.6 million Olympic tickets.

Basic mathematics shows a few people out there are going to be disappointed in their ambition to get a ticket.

They want to be a part of this amazing, once-in-a-generation festival of sport in London and to sit in the venues that the world's elite have graced.

So they spot tickets going on sale for the Paralympic Games.

They realise that they are in the same world class venues used at the Olympics and better still, they realise that the tickets are rather cheap.

So as sport fans, they sign up for them.

They head along to the Games and immediately realise exactly what Paralympic sport is all about. Speed, aggression, passion, intensity and the same unbelievable skill level as seen in able-bodied elite sport.

In return, London 2012 gets full stadiums which mean better atmospheres and ultimately a better overall spectacle. No one likes to see empty seats at any sporting occasion and this may well be negated by the low price for Paralympic Games tickets.

London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton has already stated that he is confident that all Paralympic Games tickets will sell out with people wanting to feel part of the 2012 experience.

In addition, London 2012 has funds to raise with £30 million ($49 million) needed to be generated from Paralympic ticket sales.

They could have attempted to do this though selling a few hugely expensive tickets but instead, they have gone for the much more understandable strategy of selling the majority, if not all, at a low price.

There are also a number of highly attractive schemes in place - such as day passes which will enable ticketholders to see a range of sports taking place over a day - and plans to get local schools to attend as the Games are after all taking place in term-time from August 29 until September 9, 2012.

Ticket applications from the public will be accepted between September 9-30, 2011 and my advice would be to sign up.

Don't question the price or even the fact that it covers your travel; just go along.

Then sit back and enjoy!

Tom Degun is the Paralympics reporter for insideworldparasport