Another danger attending the low prices of tickets was that those living near at hand would immediately buy up all of them, leaving none for more distant sporting enthusiasts. We could naturally assume that the publicity for the Games would have a greater and more immediate effect in Germany than abroad and in order to prevent the majority of the seats from going to German visitors, we divided the tickets into quotas. Generally speaking, half of the tickets were reserved for Germany and half for foreign countries. We in turn divided the foreign quota among the different nations, taking into consideration the ordinary number of visitors from these countries to Germany as well as the interest generally shown in sport, and we also reserved a number of tickets in order to be able to satisfy unforeseen requests or unexpected demands.
In this manner we succeeded in satisfying to a certain extent the many requests for seats. A complete control over the distribution of tickets among the various countries was impossible due to the fact that nations exchanged the quotas among themselves and travel offices distributed the tickets at their disposal as they saw fit, depending upon the demand. Special wishes remained in some cases unfulfilled, as for example, when travel offices planned to send large crowds to single events such as the opening and closing ceremony. In such cases we respected first the wishes of visitors
ho came for the entire Festival. The final decisions regarding the distribution and sale of tickets remained in the hands of a Financial Committee which was not responsible to the Organizing Committee but directly to the Government. Secretary of State Pfundtner was Chairman of this body and Ministerial Director von Manteuffel of the Ministry of Finance was appointed as his representative. This removed a heavy burden from the shoulders of the Organizing Committee. During its first meeting on June 19th, 1934, the Financial Committee established the price categories for the entrance tickets as well as the price of lodgings for the athletes in the Olympic Village, Frisian House, at Kцpenick and in the Yachting Home at Kiel. This was set at 6 Reichsmarks, including laundry and transportation between the various lodgings and the centres of training and competition as compared with two dollars in Los Angeles. As a proof of our hospitality, it was decided that all extra costs should be borne by the Reich. Later financial reports revealed that the actual cost for each athlete was between 11.50 and 12 Reichsmarks.
The Advance Ticket Sale Begins
Following these decisions, the complicated preparatory work for the production and distribution of tickets began, and in October, 1934 the list of entrance prices was publicly announced. The ticket office was fully equipped by November 1st and the advance sale of tickets began on January lst, 1935. A total of 4Vz million tickets were printed, these falling into 660 different classes and categories. The international travel offices as well as the National Olympic Committees were entrusted with the sale of tickets, and the ticket office fulfilled written orders directly. The first tickets to be offered for sale were the Olympic Stadium passes, which entitled the owner to admission to every event in the Olympic Stadium, sporting as well as artistic. The German quota in this category was sold out in four months. The season tickets for the various sports were placed on sale on June lst, 1935, and by July, 1935 the first million Reichsmarks in entrance money had been received, the second million being attained in January, 1936. At the beginning of February, 1936 the single admission tickets were placed on sale. The attempt to open a public sale in April, 1936 at the Headquarters of the Organizing Committee had to be given up because of the huge crowds which assembled, thousands standing in line from the earliest hours of the morning. At our request the Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft placed its principal banking rooms in the centre of the city at our disposal for this purpose, and on June 15th, 1936 the public sale of tickets was inaugurated there. In the meantime, however, the total receipts from the sale of tickets had already reached 4,000,000 Reichsmarks and finally attained a figure of 9,000,000 Reichsmarks, the Stadium and other centres of competition being sold out for practically every event except a few preliminary competitions.