THE BIG DAY

Inauguration Ticket Prices Slashed

May be failing to meet fundraising goals.

Tickets for the official inauguration events have been slashed in recent days in order for planners to reach their $50 million fundraising goals to pay for the balls, the parade, and other activities. An email sent last week announced “special rates we have negotiated for you” for various tickets. Tickets to one of the two official balls were going for $500, less than half of what people were paying previously. It suggests that donors have not been as generous as they were in 2009, when fundraisers took in closer to $53 million for the event. Planners had announced that they would take corporate donations this year to ease pressure on individual donors, but only a few companies have donated. “It’s been a tough slog,” one person involved in fundraising said.