By Nick Butler

CTS Eventim have been appointed the official ticketing provider for Rio 2016 ©CTS EventimGerman-based ticket selling giants CTS Eventim have been appointed the exclusive Ticketing Services Provider for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.


The company, whose headquarters are in Bremen and Munich but who operate in 23 countries, were chosen via a public bidding process attended by domestic and international companies, and will run the operation through its subsidiary company CTS Eventim Brazil.

Rio 2016 will mark their first experience of being involved in the ticketing process for a Summer Games.

But the company provided the ticketing platforms for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, as well as for Sochi 2014 earlier this year.

Nine million tickets are expected to be issued for the Olympics, with some 1,000 sessions taking place across 37 venues between August 5 and 21, 2016, before the Paralympics are due to take place the following month, from September 7 to 18. 

Tickets will be accessible online, as well as via both a call centre and a box office, with more details to be announced over coming months before the process opens with around a year to go before the Games begins.

Rio 2016 will be the first Summer Olympic Games CTS Eventim have taken charge of the ticketing process for ©Getty ImagesRio 2016 will be the first Summer Olympic Games CTS Eventim have taken charge of the ticketing process for ©Getty Images



CTS Eventim have been charged by Rio 2016 with building a "robust, state-of-the-art ticketing platform".

They will hope for better success than that enjoyed by United States rival Ticketmaster, who experienced problem with their process for London 2012, as well as with more recent events, including the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year. 

This came after people continually complained they could not log on to the website, leading to a temporary suspension of the process.

Even greater problems were experienced by Ticketmaster ahead of the Glasgow 2014 when they were forced to shut down their official website in May for nine days as customers experienced a raft of problems during the final phase of ticket sales.

Those looking to buy tickets complained of not been able to connect their calls, or successfully purchase tickets online, while some were also charged by their phone providers for their unsuccessful attempts.

The sale of the first tranche of tickets for the 2015 Rugby World Cup was also delayed by two weeks in May after Ticketmaster, who have since been appointed to a similar role for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, requested more time to test its system.