The first test of the Los Angeles Olympics: facing ticket prices

LOS ANGELES — The 2028 Olympics are still more than two years away. But residents of Southern California, where nearly all the events will take place, say organizers have already introduced them to a new sport: securing tickets.

They spent hours meticulously preparing for the big moment. They felt the adrenaline of unexpected victory. (Olympic wrestling quarterfinal tickets for $28? Points for them!) They experienced the excitement of successful teamwork. (“What if everyone buys a ticket to the mixed swim relay qualifiers, so we can carpool to Inglewood?”).

And they were also hit with frustration when they discovered that many of the most desired events were far beyond what they could afford. Some fans reported seeing tickets to the opening ceremony for more than US$5,000, more than R$25,000.

“I was completely obsessed with it,” Michelle Hillier said, laughing.

Ticket sales offered a first glimpse of a U.S. Olympics in an era when getting into popular sporting and entertainment events means navigating an expensive route full of bots and hidden fees. Many of those who qualified for the pre-sale aimed at locals said they hoped the Olympics would be a refreshing change. Residents of select counties in California and Oklahoma — where the canoe slalom and softball events will be held — were eligible after winning a lottery.

Hillier, a content creator who lives on the west side of Los Angeles, said she felt lucky to have a shopping slot on the first possible day, April 2. Seeing the final of the 100 meter dash was her husband’s “dream of life”.

When it was his turn to buy, Hillier, 46, stood in front of the computer with pen and paper. She had researched the event codes of the tickets she preferred; each person could buy up to 12 tickets for any Olympic event, plus 12 additional tickets for football matches.

But she and her husband couldn’t justify spending several hundred dollars per ticket to enter the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and watch the 100-meter final. So, they settled for tickets costing US$100, just over R$500, in a higher sector, for a preliminary round.

Although Los Angeles Olympic organizers emphasized that 1 million tickets would be available for $28, price shock seemed to be the dominant emotion among potential buyers over the long weekend, as those who had won the draw weighed whether — and how much — they would buy within their limit.

“I wasn’t mentally prepared to spend $2,000,” said Nicholas Liddell, 31, of West Hollywood.

In the end, he spent around $1,700 on 12 tickets.

Liddell, who works in strategy at Disney, purchased four tickets each for three mixed events: a tennis doubles quarterfinal match for $75 each, plus an $18 service fee per ticket; a swimming final, for US$150 each, with a fee of US$36 per ticket; and an athletics final, for US$120, with a fee of US$29 per ticket.

After attending the Milan-Cortina Winter Games this year, he felt the Olympics were special enough to justify the expense. Still, Liddell said he wishes 2028 organizers had been more transparent about the availability of cheaper tickets, especially for local residents.

Los Angeles Games officials said only a portion of the tickets were released for pre-sale, in part because they were only able to open them to a portion of the 5 million people worldwide who registered for the draw in January. They also stated that, for now, they do not know exactly how many tickets will be available at each arena.

Organizers have emphasized that they have to balance a number of sometimes conflicting priorities. The lottery system was designed to prioritize fairness and access, but they also need to raise money through ticket sales.

On Thursday, organizers announced that the 2028 Games “significantly surpassed” the first week of sales of any previous Olympics and that, for the first time, all of those tickets went to local residents. They did not release more specific sales data.

While some tickets had eye-catching prices, organizers said that in Los Angeles, one of the world’s biggest and richest sports markets, they could have charged even more.

“I think overall our goal was to make sure there was something for everyone,” said Allison Katz-Mayfield, senior vice president in charge of ticketing at the organizing committee. “There is no research that indicates we should price any ticket at $28.”

She noted that 75% of available tickets were under $400 and that almost half were priced at less than $200. Official resale platforms will launch next year, although organizers have not said whether there will be rules limiting how much people can profit from resale. On Thursday, organizers announced that global ticket sales were officially open.

The 2028 Games face major financial challenges. Organizers said they need to, at the very least, break even — otherwise, taxpayers will have to cover any deficits.

The Games are expected to cost $7.1 billion, including everything from bus drivers to volunteer meals. Organizers say they hope to cover about $2.5 billion of that with sponsorships, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars from other sources. But about $2.5 billion is budgeted to come from ticket sales and hospitality packages.

In 1984, the last time the city hosted the Olympics, they generated about $233 million in operating profit — the equivalent of about $731 million in today’s money, according to Shirin Mollah, an economist who studies sports at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

“We always come back to that example because it was one of the rare modern Olympics that had a significant operating profit,” she said.

The city still has reminders of this success: public parks and pools display uniforms and plaques that celebrate the LA84 Foundation’s contributions. The 2024 Paris Olympics also turned a profit.

A resident of Los Angeles, Mollah said she was excited to use the resident ticket pre-sale as a case study for her students.

She stated that the most expensive tickets for the Paris Olympics had lower prices than those seen so far in Los Angeles, but that the European sports market is different from that of Los Angeles.

Selling tickets two years in advance, Mollah said, is a way of signaling to sponsors that “the Games are real and people want to be there.”

She added: “The Games are just beginning.”