The real Olympic challenge might be scraping up enough cash to attend its start.

With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics just two years away, sports fans are already looking forward to the finest athletes in the world coming to Japan. And if those same fans want to be at the opening ceremony, hopefully they’re already saving plenty of money for the privilege.

On Monday, the 2020 Games’ Organizing Committee announced preliminary pricing for tickets at the Games, and said that the most expensive will likely be 288,000 yen (US$2,640) for the Olympics’ opening ceremony. That figure is comparable to the one for the 2012 Olympics in London. As for the Tokyo Paralympics, once again the most expensive ticket is for the opening ceremony, costing 144,100 yen, roughly double that of its London counterpart and more than three times as much as for Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The committee has yet to release details on whether or not less expensive tickets will also be available for the opening ceremonies, but did describe them as “for general attendees,” which doesn’t sound like it indicates luxury boxes or other high-end seats.

As for competitive events, the most expensive for the Tokyo Olympics will be 108,000 yen, for unspecified track and field events, and 6,500 yen for both the Paralympics’ track and field and swimming.

▼ The Tokyo 2020 mascots

Thankfully, there will be more affordable ways to attend the Games. While it didn’t specify which exact sports they’ll be for, the committee’s preliminary pricing plan has tickets for Olympic competitive events starting at 2,000 yen (slightly more than the cost of a movie ticket in Tokyo), and Paralympic event tickets from just 1,000 yen. Finally, since ticket prices are yet to be finalized, there’s a chance those numbers could come down by the time the Olympic flame reaches Tokyo, but you probably shouldn’t keep you fingers crossed that they’ll change all that much.

Source: Kyodo
Top image: Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s wondering if Sam the Olympic Eagle will return as mascot for the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles.