Olympics ticket prices slashed

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO

Sports fans living outside Brazil who bought tickets for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics early may be regretting it, having paid higher prices and add-on fees.

In a late push to boost slow ticket sales ahead of the Aug. 5-21 games, Rio organizers have opened up their local ticket website to the rest of the world. This means that fans outside Brazil can now buy tickets at local rates in Brazilian reals.

The result is ticket prices that could be much lower due to fluctuations in exchange rates between the real and other currencies, and the absence of so-called service fees charged by official ticket resellers outside Brazil.

Rio organizers reached an agreement more than a year ago with official ticket resellers outside Brazil — those who wanted to price in dollars — to use the exchange rate of 2.35 reals to the dollar. The rate is now about 3.25.

This means that a ticket priced at 500 reals, purchased from the American reseller CoSport, would cost about $215. In addition, authorized resellers are also allowed to collect up to a 20 percent service charge on ticket sales.

However, an American buyer can now go to the Brazilian website and click on a ticket priced at 500 reals. At the current exchange rate, that price is about $150 — and there is no service fee.