LA 2028 Olympics Ticket Prices Leave Locals Reeling as Presale Opens

LOS ANGELES — When the LA28 organising committee promised Olympic tickets starting at just 28 dollars, it seemed like a rare win for local communities asked to absorb significant disruption during the Games. But for many Los Angeles residents who entered the presale lottery last week, the reality was a far cry from that headline figure.

Tickets officially went on sale to southern California and Oklahoma City residents on April 2, with the lottery distributed across multiple time slots throughout the day. While the cheapest tickets did exist, thousands of locals discovered they had already vanished by the time their slot rolled around.

Kathy Dorn, a Los Angeles resident who registered for the morning lottery on April 3, told The Guardian she was shocked to find gymnastics tickets, among the most coveted Olympic events, had sold out during her window. She ultimately spent roughly 1,200 dollars securing seats for rhythmic and artistic gymnastics preliminaries and sailing finals.

I didnt expect them to be gone that quickly, Dorn said. Overall, I found the prices quite high, and it didnt seem like they released additional inventory for people with later time slots, which made it even more frustrating.

One LA resident told NBC Los Angeles he paid 11,000 dollars for eight track and field tickets, with nearly 400 dollars of that eaten up by service fees alone. The fees, which LA28 confirmed carry a 24 percent surcharge, were described by the organising body as necessary to fund customer service operations during the Games.

Gigi Gutierrez, an LA28 spokesperson, defended the pricing structure, arguing that tickets for marquee events like swimming and football align with comparable costs at other major sporting spectacles, including the Super Bowl and the upcoming World Cup.

LA28, which operates with a budget exceeding 7.1 billion dollars, has stated it is determined to break even without dipping into public funds, a commitment that stands in sharp contrast to recent Games in Athens and Rio de Janeiro, both of which left host cities mired in debt and unused facilities.

The sticker shock has been felt most acutely in Inglewood, the majority Black and Latino city that will host the opening ceremony, swimming, and basketball events. Community members there say the prospect of Olympics-related congestion and price inflation, without the ability to attend themselves, feels like an unfair burden.

We shouldnt just have to bear all of the burden of the Olympics, we should be able to participate, said Inglewood native Yolanda Davidson in comments to CBS LA.

Reynold Hoover, LA28 chief executive, pushed back on the criticism, pointing to the hundreds of thousands of 28 dollar tickets that were sold and describing them as the lowest-priced Olympic tickets in modern history. But for those who missed that window, the dream of experiencing the Games at home has come at a cost few anticipated.