He was speaking here today shortly before Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, officially opened the Prestige Pavilion (pictured below) – the flagship corporate site next to the Olympic Stadium.

Burton maintained: "We have sold 90 per cent of our ticket packages [pictured top].

"It will be the biggest, largest and most impressive in-venue hospitality programme ever delivered at a sporting event."

Burton's assertion means that all but 8,000 of the 80,000 tickets available – the latter figure being one per cent of the overall United Kingdom allocation of eight million – have been sold; some still remain for equestrianism, beach volleyball, handball and tennis.

Prices for tickets range from £295 ($462/€367) to in excess of £4,500 ($7,050/€5,600) per person for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and selected blue-riband events.

A spokesman for Prestige Ticketing said the prices are in line with prices charged for other top-end corporate events, such as the Rugby World Cup and the Champions League finals.

Of the opening of the venue (pictured below, alongside the Olympic Stadium), Burton highlighted its unique offering.

"The Pavilion is an Olympic first," he declared.

"No previous Olympic Games has ever offered in-venue hospitality that is available to organisations and individuals outside of the Olympic sponsor community."


Coe welcomed the "different" approach this form of hospitality represented: "It's the first time we've had this type of in-venue hospitality.

"We are about 100 metres from the start-line of the 100 metres [sprint event] – it really doesn't get better than that."

He added: "The Prestige Pavilion will be a spectacular hospitality venue at Games time and those who use it will undoubtedly have an unforgettable experience.

"But they will also have contributed to our Ticketshare scheme, which will see over 200,000 tickets to the Games donated to schoolchildren all over the United Kingdom and other good causes.

"Hospitality is part of any Olympic Games or major event, but our programme has been put together in an innovative way, reflecting the sophisticated hospitality market in the UK."

The still-to-be-completed pavilion – boasting a dark, smoked-glass frontage – currently contains three floors of space and hanging wires.

When it is completed it will be able to house 3,000 clients a day who will have a choice of six restaurants.

The pavilion cost £9.5 million ($14.9 million/€11.8 million) to construct and is the flagship of four key sites, the other three being at Horse Guards Parade, for beach volleyball; Greenwich Park, for equestrianism; and Eton Dorney, for rowing.

Prestige Ticketing is also managing the hospitality facilities at Wimbledon, for tennis, and North Greenwich Arena, for gymnastics and the basketball finals.

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