NFL passport to Paris to buy tickets for Paris Olympics
PARIS — Paris is a city of athletes, but it’s also a city with a history of Olympic-sized crowds.
That’s the gist of a passport to France that the NFL is sending to Paris, to buy ticket stubs and souvenirs for the Olympics.
The NFL, which has an annual game in Paris every February, sent the passport on Thursday to the city’s Olympic organizing committee.
The passport is for a single, one-way ticket to Paris for the March 5-7, 2020, opening and closing ceremonies.
The NFL’s London franchise, the London Organizing Committee, says it’s the first of its kind.
“The passport was sent on a short-term basis for Paris to purchase and to purchase tickets,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.
“They’re still getting tickets but we’re hoping to have them at the opening ceremonies.”
The NFL has sent passports to other Olympic venues around the world, including Rio de Janeiro in 2014, and the 2016 games in Rio de Janiero and Sydney in 2017.
The Paris trip is expected to be less costly than those in London and Rio, and a major difference in the travel logistics for the Olympic organizers.
The Paris Olympic Committee says the passport will cost about $100 to $150.
The passport will allow the players to travel on a coach and bus, McCarthy said.
Players will be able to buy an Olympic-size ticket from the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, which is on the other side of the French capital.
The airline’s website says it will be “available for purchase and boarding from Paris, with an arrival in Paris time of approximately five hours from the date of purchase.”
It also offers the Paris Olympic Stadium, the stadium where the first Olympic games took place in 1896, which cost about 300,000 euros ($322,000).
The passport will be shipped from the U.S. Embassy in Paris, McCarthy added.
The NBA, which plays in London from April through June, will be playing in Paris for its annual All-Star Weekend on Feb. 26 and March 5.
Its London franchise plans to play its game in April.
