Free entry,Arc be Triomph.

much obliged

It looks as though there is a complete change of thinking for ticket sales/ organisation at this year's meeting.  No more of the free tickets, or free entry for ladies wearing hats, etc.  Just look at the www.prixarcdetriomphe.com site to see the change of style for ticket sales (and a change of style in the whole layout of the website - more 'professional' looking).
The ticket prices for the general entry are still good value at 20 Euro for the general admission on the paddock/grandstand side for such a great day's racing, but there is definitely a drive to ensure revenue from ticket sales is increased.  France Galop clearly are thinking that they cannot afford to let such an opportunity to sell a large volume of tickets at higher prices go by when the opportunity is there.  It will be interesting to see if this has any bearing on the attendance.
There has also been a change of thinking over the scheduling of the Sunday card.  The first race is now 2.00pm (French time), but in years gone by it was 1.00pm or thereabouts.  The Arc is run about 20 minutes earlier than in recent years and that still leaves 5 races on the card (3 of which are Group 1) after the Arc.  In the last 24 hours there has been a shift around in the order of the supporting Group 1 races on the Sunday, so that the Abbaye (traditionally early on the card) is now run after the Arc. (Just noticed, though, that the English section of the website has not caught up with the French section which has the correct running order.)
Good luck if you are going and hopefully the weather stays good - Longchamp is great on a warm, sunny day.