Rain washes away more than $1M in Olympic ticket sales

The Vancouver Olympic Committee said it has been forced to refund a further 20,000 tickets after warm temperatures and heavy rain over the weekend made the standing area at the Cypress snowboard stadium unsafe for spectators.

The cancellations will cost VANOC more than $1 million in lost sales, with ticket prices for most events in the stands costing $50. The men and women’s snowboard halfpipe events were more expensive at $65.

Heavy rains washed away almost a foot (30 centimetres) of snow where the standing room area was to be located.

The cancellations affect the snowboard halfpipe on Feb. 17 and 18; ski cross on Feb. 21 and 23; and snowboard parallel giant slalom on Feb. 26 and 27 competitions at Cypress Mountain.

“With safety the top priority and with snowboard events taking place daily, there is insufficient snow to move and build the standing room area back up at the Cypress snowboard stadium,” the organizing committee said.

“VANOC has protected sufficient contingency snow for field of play at Cypress Mountain.”

The latest refunds follow the cancellation of standing room tickets for events on Feb. 15 and 16. Those cancellations affected about 8,000 spectators, with tickets worth more than $500,000.