Los Angeles, along with other host cities, is already experiencing Olympic fever — even two years ahead of the actual Games — as time slots open for what many are calling a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to watch events in their own city.
But as the organizing committee begins rolling out ticket drops, many residents say they are disappointed and furious over what they describe as unreasonable presale prices.
“I was really excited because we’ve been talking about the Olympics since I moved to LA in 2019, and it’s so sad that I maybe won’t be able to go,” Aastha Jani, who had hoped to at least get tickets for some less popular Olympic sports, told The California Post.
“I was really pleased that they were setting aside tickets for residents, and it made me feel like I was being rewarded for all my years of paying California taxes,” she added.
“Felt like reentering the Ticketmaster war,” she joked, referring to the frenzy over Taylor Swift tickets during her record-breaking Eras Tour.
Jani’s slot was Monday at 4 p.m., the tail end of the first drop, and she said she did not find any tickets that were affordable.
“I was looking to get badminton, cricket and gymnastics tickets. I knew gymnastics was a long shot, but badminton and cricket aren’t even that popular as Olympic sports,” she added. “I didn’t end up buying tickets at all because the cheapest ones — even for preliminary rounds — were around $200 per seat, which made no sense.”
Another fan told The Post he spent $6,285.20 on 12 tickets, including four to the tennis mixed semifinals ($2,604.64), four to the men’s soccer final ($1,894.52) and four to the men’s baseball final ($1,786.04).
“I saw the options and my jaw dropped to the floor. Plus, the extra fees were absolutely ridiculous. And it’s not for two years,” he said.
“Who knows if I’ll even be alive!” he added.
Currently, ticket prices range from around $100 to above $1,000 per person, depending on the sport. Pricing for closing ceremony tickets is $4,961.20 per ticket.
For major events like artistic gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and tennis — all popular Summer Olympic competitions — prices for finals or even preliminary qualifying rounds are at least in the $700 range and some soccer qualifier rounds start at $100.
For example, a track and field mixed final ticket, which includes the women’s 5,000m final, is $745, while a swimming event featuring the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay is priced at $1,116. Most other sports have limited, if not any, standard ticket availability.
According to LA28, more tickets will be released in future drops, along with a resale market set to open in 2027, though tickets are not available for every individual time-slotted session.
“The allocation was just unfair and upsetting. I just decided to wait until 2028 to see if there’s any cheap resale, but I doubt that’ll happen,” Jani said. “Hoping for more disposable income by then!”
For some LA residents, there is little point in having a presale if prices fluctuate this dramatically.
“It feels like the Olympics themselves are also playing the same game resellers do, manipulating prices based on demand while claiming to offer first pick at fair, ‘unaltered’ prices to Angelenos,” Maideh Orangi, who grew up in LA and wanted to snag wrestling tickets, told The Post.
Currently, those tickets start at nearly $400, with finals priced around $700.
“They clearly made the games anticipated to be more popular more expensive, which defeats the whole purpose of allowing LA residents to have access to the first tickets and snag the best spots at a more reasonable price,” Orangi said.
While Orangi and Jani did not end up buying tickets, some people went ahead despite the hefty price tags.
Patrick Hare bought tickets worth over $1,500, saying while prices were high, it was worth it.
“To me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When else are the Olympics going to be in LA?” he said. “I am local and don’t have to worry about accommodation for any of the games.”
He said he has paid equal or more for tickets to see artists like Dua Lipa and Tate McRae, and this was what he expected. However, he added that it would have been “better” if prices were lower given the “severe intrusion” for local residents during the Games.
LA 2028 Olympic ticket buyers are facing sticker shock, with reports of service fees soaring as high as 24% on early orders. Meanwhile, LA28 announced a presale of 1 million tickets priced at $28 each — a rare budget-friendly option in an otherwise costly rollout.
“I was not able to purchase any of the cheap tickets. It was pretty unclear how those tickets would be distributed. Maybe it’s just a marketing scheme, and there are no $28 tickets for the hottest events,” Max Link, who wanted to purchase tennis tickets, told the California Post.
He ended up purchasing track and field tickets for a mixed final with a price tag of over $800.
“I thought the LA Olympics was making an effort to reach lower-income fans. However, it looks like that effort was constrained to those tickets alone,” he added. “Regardless, this will undoubtedly exclude fans from the majority of countries around the world whose budgets would already be squeezed by travel to the US.”
Regardless of the prices, fans who bought tickets — as well as those hoping to purchase them in future presales or upcoming drops — remain eager for the Games to come to the city.
“I believe deeply in the power of sport to unite us across borders, which is more important now than it has been for several iterations,” Link noted. “I just hope that the economics of hosting the Games don’t unduly exclude fans from participating in this celebration of our humanity.”
The LA28 Olympic ticket sales continue with General Drop 1 from April 9–19, 2026, with future releases and a verified resale program starting in 2027.
The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, California, from July 14 to July 30, 2028. Known as the LA28 Games, the event will use existing venues across Southern California, including the LA Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium, with some events taking place in Oklahoma City.
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