The public will be able to buy...

The public will be able to buy about 75% of the tickets for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary but could have access to only half the seats for the most popular events, the Olympic Organizing Committee said.

Last Friday, the committee said that no more than 25% of all tickets would be allocated to members of the “Olympic family”--Olympic officials, government representatives, national sports organizations, corporate sponsors and working members of the media. Subsequent reports indicated that as many as half the seats for some events may go to the VIPs.

Bill Wardle, vice president of marketing for the organizing committee, also maintained that seat quality will be determined on an equitable basis. Reports suggesting that VIPs will get all the choice seats are untrue, he said.