Want to Attend the Rio Olympics? Some Tickets Are Getting Downright Cheap

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There are just two weeks to go until the Olympic Games get underway in Rio de Janeiro. Have you ever wondered how much a ticket to watch the Olympics in person would set you back?

This may surprise you, but depending on which sporting event you want to attend, you could score a ticket for as little as $15, though some tickets for the most popular sporting events, like gymnastics and some track and field events, sell for more than $1,300.

“The women’s water polo tickets are only $15! The USA plays in the session I bought,” said Larry, a member of Las Vegas’ News 3 Team Rio, who plans to travel to Rio to watch his 11th Olympic Games in person. “I have never seen advance online sales to non-citizens (like) this before for any other Olympics,” he added.

In an effort to increase sluggish ticket sales for the Games, which run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21, Rio organizers are letting anyone who wants to purchase tickets do so at the lower rates it’s charging Brazilians, according to the Associated Press. There are still 1.7 million unsold tickets remaining, says CNN Money.

Previously, Americans were able to purchase tickets through CoSport, an authorized ticket resale site, at an exchange rate of 2.35 Brazilian reals to the U.S. dollar, in addition to a service fee of up to 20 percent.

Now you can purchase tickets here at Brazil’s local ticket site, which was originally exclusive to citizens of Brazil. That means you can save potentially big bucks on tickets — due to a more favorable exchange rate (currently 3.25 reals to the dollar) — and pay no service fee.

“This is a great deal for someone coming to Brazil,” Rio ticket director Donovan Ferreti told the AP. “Now the exchange rate is in their favor.”

Although citizens of an Olympic host country typically gobble up a hefty portion of event tickets, that’s unlikely to happen in Brazil, a country reeling from a historic recession, high inflation, political corruption and scandal, rampant crime and the Zika virus

A new poll revealed that half of Brazilians are against hosting the Olympics, says CNN Money.

As the Games approach, Brazil is grappling with a host of problems, including infrastructure issues, sewage-infested waterways, the discovery of a drug-resistant super bacteria in polluted waters, increasing violent street crime rates, and a massive Zika outbreak — all of which help explain the slow ticket sales.

Have you attended the Olympic Games before? Would you go to the Rio Olympics? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.

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