VANCOUVER - Yes, you can buy your way to the head of the Olympic ticket line.

For a sweet $285,000 each, 100 exceptionally well-heeled individuals will be guaranteed at least four tickets to all of the prestige events at the 2010 Winter Olympics, including the finals of men's and women's hockey, figure skating, speed skating, curling and snowboarding, plus the Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

As well, members of the Vancouver 2010 Club will have a spot in the cross-country Olympic torch relay, plus services of a car and driver throughout the 17-day Olympics.

Finally, as a feel-good measure, the deal also includes a donation of 100 tickets per patron to the Games' free ticket program that will provide 50,000 Olympic tickets to charitable organizations.

VANOC released details of the high-end packages just as public tickets to attend the Games went on sale for the first time yesterday, at prices ranging from $1,100 for the gala opening ceremonies to a highly affordable $25 that will secure admission to women's hockey preliminaries and cross-country skiing events.

The news drew heavy fire from provincial NDP Olympics critic Harry Bain, who charged that VANOC's ticket policies cater more to millionaires than ordinary families.

"They are the ones who pay the freight to put on the Games, and they should have access to tickets before the rich," Mr. Bains said. "People who want to go to the Olympics should not be blocked out by high ticket prices and those who get access to the best tickets."

While acknowledging that many tickets are available for as little as $25 and 50,000 will be distributed free, he said families with modest incomes are basically barred from the Games' best events such as the gold-medal hockey showdowns, where tickets cost as much as $775.

"Yes, the Games needs people with money [to help balance the budget], but ordinary people should get priority as well, and right now the ability of a family of four, say, to attend a big Olympics event is very, very limited," Mr. Bains said. "I'm sure VANOC could have found a way to do it."

VANOC executive vice-president Dave Cobb defended the enticement for high-rollers to support the Olympics, noting that the 100 special ticket packages will raise $28.5-million to defray operating costs, and the purchase price far exceeds the face value of the tickets.

Those funds are needed to keep as many tickets as possible available for $25 and $30, Mr. Cobb said. "The money subsidizes our ticket program, because it's revenue we don't have to generate from ticket sales for our budget to stay balanced."

He said all the tickets that make up the $285,000 packages come from the 30 per cent allocated to the so-called Olympic family of sponsors, national Olympic committees and officials. The number of tickets available for purchase by the public remains the same, Mr. Cobb said.

"It's a significant revenue stream. I think it would be irresponsible for us not to find an opportunity for people who can contribute this amount of money, and to do it in a way that does not take tickets from the hands of the public."

He said the program was modelled on a similar tickets-and-perks venture that raised more than $50-million from financially flush individuals at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002.

Fraser Bullock, chief operating officer of the 2002 Games, said there was "absolutely no negative feedback" about its Ambassador Program.

"Our objective was to soak the rich, and we were unashamed about that," Mr. Bulloch said. "It was of critical importance to our financial picture and allowed us to have reasonably priced tickets for those who could not otherwise afford them."

So far, VANOC has received 30 verbal commitments from prospective buyers of its executive package, and 10 actual cheques.

Meanwhile, the first day of a five-week window to apply for Olympic tickets went off without a hitch, despite heavy traffic on VANOC's online ordering site.

There were more than a million hits during the day, about 10 times the site's normal traffic, according to VANOC. The public has until Nov. 7 to apply for tickets.