On Location Promising ‘Elevated’ Experiences for 2026 Winter Olympics
Clubhouses in each regional cluster and ticket sales are going well early on, says hospitality provider
Posted On: February 24, 2025 By :The fact that the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are smaller than their summer counterpart, that the venues are day-long trips between clusters and there are a key series of events with no firm location yet has not stopped the clamor for hospitality packages when the Opening Ceremony starts in Milan on February 6, 2026.
That is according to Will Whiston, executive vice president of Olympic & Paralympic Games for On Location, who says the IOC’s global hospitality provider is “thrilled with the response we’ve seen on the market” with a mix of both sporting events and Italian culture among the packages on offer.
“Compared to Paris, interest I’d say is even higher,” than the hugely successful 2024 Games, Whiston said. “(In Paris) the amount of tickets and hospitality packages sold in the final month, and then even during the Games, were astronomical, unlike anything anyone’s seen. I think that effect is carrying forward. We’ve seen a lot of people wanting to get into the action now.”
Winter Games event staples such as hockey and figure skating are popular for ticketing and hospitality, Whiston said, along with biathlon (almost completely sold out) and women’s downhill while “there is no sport where it’s like, ‘oh, no one wants to go to that.’ There is interest and demand.”
What remains uncertain is where sliding events will be. Lake Placid, New York, could be the host for bobsled, luge and skeleton at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games should the sliding venue in Cortina not be completed by March ahead of a test event that is crucial to a final decision on where events will be organized.
“We have a lot of people asking about it,” Whiston said of sliding events. “We’ve told clients to wait until the end of March, (then) get all the plans solidified. The Italian government and the local province have invested so much into that, financial and otherwise, and it’s a point of pride for Italy and it’s going to be an incredible track. We feel like that’s going to be one of the highlights of the Games.”
There’s also a joke to be made that given the distance between some of the venues for 2026, the mileage between Milan-Cortina and Lake Placid would fit into the overall planning for the venues.
Milan (ice hockey, figure skating, speedskating and short-track speedskating) and Cortina d’Ampezzo (women’s alpine skiing, curling and potentially sliding) are separated by about 170 miles. Alpine skiing for the men in Bormio is more than 125 miles from Milan and nearly 200 miles from Cortina. Athletes will compete in three other mountain clusters, while the Closing Ceremony will be held in Verona, the largest city in the northeastern Veneto region.
On Location’s plan for transport is to have a hub in Milan for arrivals and then another hub in Venice, which is closer and more accessible to Cortina. Whiston said at the moment it’s almost an equal split between which hub people want to arrive at for the Games. And the distance between clusters has a simplifying effect on which events people want to see.
“Most Olympic fans or even corporates who want to go, they have one or two sports in mind,” Whiston said. “Then they want to add the Olympic experience around it. In each cluster, there’s multiple sports. People will know what they want to go to. They’ll spend their time in that location. And then they have two or three other options. That’s more than enough for taking in the rest of the Olympics. So I think it simplifies the options, simplifies the experience for the client.”
Clients who buy packages through On Location will experience a mix of sports and culture, which is intentional by the hospitality provider. Packages include guaranteed tickets as well as hospitality-only access or five-star accommodations, or other options including trips to the Milan shopping district or après-ski lifestyle in Cortina.
“At past Olympics or most other sporting events, you think of hospitality experiences as food and catered experience within a venue,” Whiston said. “We’ve had the time to work through a joint vision, which means creating experiences that transcend a ticket. We’re going to have hospitality guests at the start gate for alpine skiing. We’re going to have hospitality guests at the top of the half pipe, right where the snowboarders start. In figure skating, with the benefit of time and working through what they want to pull out for figure skating within that venue, we’re going to be able to have the seats around the ‘Kiss and Cry’ area, so that it’s not just watching figure skating, you’re seeing an athlete’s journey.”
There will also be Clubhouse packages in Milan, Cortina, Livingo. The Milan clubhouse will include an exclusive Olympic-themed exhibition in collaboration with the Olympic Museum while the Cortina area offers guaranteed access to curling and women’s alpine ski events. The Livigno clubhouse offers guaranteed tickets to freestyle skiing and snowboard events.
There also is a “Winter Essentials” package that includes tickets to select ice hockey games, privileged access to the Milano Cortina 2026 Megastore and more. The clubhouse packages range from around $200 to $325 and the Winter Essentials package starts at around $150 before taxes.
“Our view has been that each Olympics is unique and each organizing committee is unique in what they’re trying to achieve,” Whiston said. “A big part of the Olympics is being in a new place, in a culture that’s excited about the Olympics, a country that’s excited to have it come back or be there for the first time in some cases. It’s a prerequisite for us to bring out the local heritage. And frankly, I think that’s the secret sauce of making it a truly special experience. The Olympics are the Olympics. Nothing’s like it. It’s a cultural event as much as it is a sporting event, which sets it apart.”
Posted in: Main Feature, Olympic Sports, Paralympic Sports, Winter Sports