Paris Olympics chief defends prices and insists tickets are cheaper than London

The head of the Paris Olympics has hit back at Sebastian Coe’s comments that tickets are too expensive by claiming they are cheaper than at London 2012. Coe warned on Monday that the cost of attending athletics finals at next summer’s Games could freeze out genuine fans and lead to empty seats at the Stade de France, with prices as high as €990 (about £850) for the Category First seats and €690, €385, €195 or €85 for Category A-D tickets.

Those remarks were especially significant given Coe is the president of World Athletics and was head of the London 2012 Games organising committee. However, on Wednesday Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024’s organising committee, said Coe’s remarks were misplaced.

Related: Coe sounds warning over Paris 2024 athletics prices with tickets up to €990

“A third of our budget is made up of ticket sales,” he said. “That’s why there are also some very expensive tickets. For athletics, the finals start at €85, but there are also more expensive tickets at €980. As far as prices are concerned, if I look at what has happened in relation to previous editions in London or even Tokyo, we can see that we are in roughly the same price range.

“In London, the price was £20, which, with inflation, works out at around €27, and the maximum price was £725 – which, with inflation, works out at just over €1,000 today. These prices are therefore slightly higher than those charged by Paris 2024. That was 12 years ago, so our prices are within the norm for such an exceptional experience.”

Estanguet also downplayed suggestions that some venues would not be full and said the range of prices would allow as many people as possible to attend. “From the outset, I’ve wanted the stadiums to be full, I’ve wanted it to be a great celebration,” he said.

“Our ticketing figures are absolutely unprecedented. We’re delighted with the approach we’ve taken to make the event accessible to as many people as possible, with tickets starting at €24 [one million seats] and half the tickets at €50 or less.

“Once again, it was important for us to guarantee access for a large part of the population – we’re talking about more than four million tickets for the Olympic Games at €50 or less – and then to offer these higher prices, which necessarily take longer to sell but which help to balance the budget of Paris 2024.”