Oprah Winfrey 23rd Season Premiere To Honor U.S. Olympic Athletes
Eager fans lined up Sunday as early as six in the morning to get their hands on free tickets to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” season premiere. Why? Those who attend will have the chance to check out 150 athletes that participated in the U.S. Olympics. For six city blocks fans of the show and the Olympics lined up by the time that noon rolled around.
The show will air Spetember 8th and will have many appearances that include gold medalist favorites Kobe Bryant, Nastia Liukin, and Michael Phelps. Tickets for the Winfrey’s tapings are usually available only by phone and nearly impossible to get, so fans were itching for the 2,000 seats up for grabs for Wednesday’s taping.
“We do love Oprah,” said 20-year-old Loyola University student Grace Sutherland, who left her apartment at 4 a.m. to wait in line. “But the Olympic athletes, they are real role models. This is the America we like to see.”
For those unable to get tickets Saturday, approximately 7,000 festival-style lawn seats would be available Wednesday, said Monica Cebula, special events coordinator for Millennium Park. Another 2,000 seats have been set aside for the Olympians’ families and friends.