Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games' fans wanting to purchase tickets to city events, including gold medal hockey, curling, as well as Opening, Closing and nightly Victory Ceremonies will have another chance on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 am (Pacific Time). Over 100,000 tickets for the third and final phase will be available to Canadian residents on a first-come, first-served basis at www.vancouver2010.com.

Paralympic tickets for high-demand events such as the Opening Ceremony, ice sledge hockey and alpine skiing will also be available during Phase 3 ticket sales.

Phase 3 ticket sales were originally scheduled to start last Saturday but the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) postponed the sale when Tickets.com, the official ticket service provider for Vancouver 2010, experienced difficulties with the configuration between the virtual waiting room and the ticketing transaction site.

"We would like to thank everyone who tried to purchase tickets last weekend for their patience under difficult circumstances and we appreciate their understanding," said Caley Denton, VANOC's vice president, ticketing and consumer marketing. "We have worked closely with Tickets.com to ensure the configuration issue virtual waiting room and our online transactional site has been resolved. We're confident we'll see strong demand when tickets go on sale Saturday.

"While fans will naturally still spend some time in the virtual waiting room, everyone will have an equal chance at tickets and we'll be sure to communicate quickly as the day unfolds," he continued.

"Our primary focus this week has been on testing our systems - which included extensive testing of the configuration and regular testing of extreme load on the site as we've done in the past two phases," said Larry Witherspoon, CEO, Tickets.com. "We know that our systems are ready for fans wanting to purchase tickets to see the best winter athletes in the world."

VANOC also confirmed plans today to communicate faster and more regularly with prospective ticket buyers this weekend by providing tips and key updates when available on the status of the online ticket experience at www.vancouver2010.com and www.twitter.com/2010tweets.

This final phase of ticket sales marks the last chance for spectators to purchase tickets in time to receive the highly collectable, full-colour and oversize tickets that prominently display Vancouver 2010 pictograms, sport and venue illustrations. The tickets are currently being printed and the window for purchasing these special tickets closes November 20.

    Important Reminder
    ------------------
    -   Canadian residents wanting to purchase tickets in Phase 3 are
        reminded to have a look at the competition schedules ahead of time
        and sign into their account prior to November 13 at 7:00 pm (Pacific
        Time) to ensure their information is up-to-date.
    -   First-time customers are also encouraged to register a ticketing
        account at www.vancouver2010.com by November 13 at 7:00 pm (Pacific
        Time) to save time beforehand.
    -   To ensure fair and equitable access to as many Canadian residents as
        possible, ticket customers visiting www.vancouver2010.com starting on
        November 14 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 starting on November 14, customers
        will be able to purchase up to four separate events, with a limit of
        either four or eight tickets per event. If a customer wants to order
        more than the limit of four events, they will need to start a new
        transaction.
    -   Visa is the only payment accepted.
    -   The full men's and women's ice hockey and curling schedules are
        available at www.vancouver2010.com.
    -   The curling draw includes all medal round matchups and preliminary
        competitions that feature Team Canada in nine of 12 sessions. Tickets
        are also available for all hockey games, including high-demand medal
        rounds in both men's and women's draws.

/CNW/