SUCCESS! Congratulations! So You Got a LA28 Ticket Draw Time Slot – NOW WHAT?! Here’s Your Game Plan.

Most Recently Updated August 5, 2026

Congratulations!

But let’s cut to the chase – you want to be prepared and ready to go when your time slot opens. Snagging a coveted high demand LA28 tickets might very well be an Olympic sport itself!

Don’t worry as I’ve got you – here’s all you need to know to make the best use of your time slot!

What To Know About Buying Olympic Tickets

Zoned Selling, Not Seat Mapping

If you have never bought a ticket for a large international sporting event, this one is very different from what you are used to. You purchase color-coded price categories (Categories A, B, C, and D) rather than picking out specific sections, rows, or seat numbers.

Delayed Assignments

Yes this does mean that you are paying blindly upfront for a ticket in a price category versus a specific seat. I also acknowledge that there are lots of variations within a Category!

LA28 will assign your physical row and seat numbers weeks or days before the event begins – they will attempt to group multi-ticket transactions together as closely as possible

Why They Do This (And Why Speed Matters)

International governing bodies use this method to account for dynamic venue modifications. For example, if LA28 needs to adjust the size of the media press box at the LA Coliseum or needs to move camera platforms at 2028 Stadium, they can shift physical seats around without issuing thousands of refunds.

Because of this, your checkout strategy is based on speed: this type of purchase does not require endless scrutinization of a seat map. Simply pick your letter category (or price), click add-to-cart, pay and check out. The comfort is knowing that you will now be attending the LA28 Olympics!

The Last-Minute Exception

The only time you can pick a specific seat for an event is if you buy through high-tier corporate hospitality packages or wait until the absolute “Last-Minute Sales” phase (if there are any tickets left to buy).

Hospitality Packages

These are priced considerably higher (ha! and that’s saying something for LA28) but do come with the benefit of knowing exactly where your seats are in addition to having a hospitality package. FYI for LA28, Men’s and Women’s Basketball games, ALL category A and B are ONLY available as hospitality tickets.

Last-Minute Ticket Sale

If LA28 releases these, you will likely be able to see seating information as last minute tickets sales have historically occured within a month of the games starting (true for Paris2024 and Milano-Cortina2026).

I was also able to see specific seat information in the Paris2024 resale site but note that I was looking/buying within a week of the games starting and during the Paris2024 games. But even then it was sometimes tricky to know exactly where the seats are as Olympic venues may be brand new (ie Paris2024’s Eiffel Tower Stadium or LA28’s reconfiguration of SoFi for swimming!)

Logistics for LA28

Venues

Explore the venues and zones 

Logistics matter but even moreso for large scale events like the Olympics. Driving in Los Angeles can be rough during the best of times so that is definitely something to take into account.

I would urge caution if you are planning on attending more than two events in a day but if you do, choose very large gaps in times between the two sessions and/or choose events in the same or very nearby zones. Plus give yourself lots of time between the events – you are likely to underestimate how long it will take between getting in and out of venues (security and just dealing with large masses of people) and getting to venues (driving, parking and walking).

Ticket Maximum

Be aware of the 12-ticket maximum per account across all sports and sessions (this isn’t per individual ie if you buy for friends and family but what your account can buy!). There are the following exceptions

• The Football (Soccer) Exception: Soccer matches are completely separate. You get 12 general tickets PLUS 12 football tickets.
• The Ceremony Exception: The exception here means ceremonies have a stricter sub-cap. You cannot use your 12-ticket limit to buy 12 Opening Ceremony tickets; you can only buy up to 4 per ceremony per account. Important note: the 4 ceremony tickets count against your overall 12-ticket maximum

Also remember that your ticket limits are cumulative across all ticket drops. If you already bought 4 tickets during an earlier phase, those 4 tickets remain permanently counted against your 12-ticket Total during any other subsequent ticket drops.

Ticket Pricing

Prices scale drastically based on the popularity of the sport, the stage of competition, and the venue seating tier. What LA28 has divulged about pricing:

• Entry Level: $28 flat across more than 1 million total tickets, mostly found in the upper tiers of preliminary rounds (e.g., beach volleyball, rugby, archery) with tickets being sold out immediately in this price category.
• Mid-Tier (Most Sports): Nearly 50% of all tickets are under $200, and over three-quarters are under $400, covering a mix of premium preliminaries and various medal finals.
• Marquee Events: Finals for high-demand sports like gymnastics, track & field, and swimming range from $100 to well over $1,000 (actually they go up to $2,500 and that excludes basketball categories A and B that are only available as part of hospitality packages!)
• Ceremonies: High-demand opening and closing ceremonies climb into the thousands, with premium seats capping out over $5,000!!

Alright So Here’s The Game Plan for LA28 Visa PreSale

Here’s what I’d recommend you do before your purchase window opens

Decide Your Priorities Before You Log In

This is probably the biggest piece of advice I can give. Don’t wait until you’re staring at the ticket page to figure out what you want.

One Way to Think About This: An Olympic Experience vs Seeing Specific Sports/Events

When I was debating about attending the World Cup, this helped me narrow down which location and match to attend and as importantly how much I would spend. I could pay a lot to see a specific team/player or I could opt for a less popular match but still be able to get the World Cup experience.

When I chose to see a group play game in Vancouver, it was for the World Cup experience which was significantly cheaper than going to a quarterfinal match in Kansas City to watch Lionel Messi play (one of the hottest draws for the WC26)

So if you have a specific sport or event that you really want to see, then that should be your priority and focus. Since prices scale based on the stage of competition, opting for preliminaries will not only help keep costs down but can also increase your chance of getting any tickets as gold medal final sessions are both extremely popular and pricey!

If you aren’t set on seeing anything specific or are just more open to being flexible, think through if any of the following scenarios resonate/are important with/to you? This can help you prioritize which sports/venues/events to attend.

• Experiencing the Olympics inside Olympic venues
• Attending a variety of sports and events vs paying for one marquee event
• Does seat location matter? Some ways to think about this (and which ticket category to buy)
  • Are you okay with being in nosebleeds if that means that you can attend a specific event OR do you need to see action up close but sport doesn’t matter as much OR you want to see XX sport from a good seat and willing to pay the premium to do so?
• Choosing mostly preliminary sessions instead of finals to keep costs down and can see more sports VS would rather pay to watch sessions in which medals are on the line but means you will attend less sessions to stay in budget.

If you are looking more for an “Olympic experience”, perhaps what guides you is choosing a venue – something that defines or feels “more Olympics or LA28”. For example, the LA Memorial Coliseum will co-host the Opening Ceremony, host the Closing Ceremony AND is also where Athletics (or Track and Field) is held! As it holds over 70,000 people, mathematically your chances at securing lower-priced tickets is higher here.

And perhaps the most unique LA28 venue will be 2028 Stadium – SoFi stadium will undergo a massive renovation to become the site for swimming and will also have increased number of seats (vs previous Olympic swimming venues)!

How To Think About The Different Sports

Before your purchase window, sit down and rank the sports you’re most excited about versus the ones you can easily skip. BUT I would also suggest that you are open to seeing new sports.

There’s something to be said about the Olympic spirit and camaraderie plus knowing how hard athletes worked to get there that makes watching a sport you may not be familiar with that hits different when you’re watching it in person! And to boot – the less popular sports will be more affordable!

Another way is to think about sports is considering a mix of events where one you attend something where there are lots of things going on (Men’s Gymnastics) to one that is focused only on event (basketball or cricket).

All of this may sound silly and a bit overkill but TRUST me, it is so much easier to think about this beforehand so you aren’t panic buying when your time comes up and your top two choices aren’t available!

Best practice is to have all of this written down so you can reference it once your ticket time slot opens.

Because at that point, it is ‘go time’! You want a leg up on the competition also searching for tickets at the same time – that now are panicking because their top three choices aren’t available and freeze because they don’t know what to do next!

Don’t Forget To Look at the Competition Schedule

Unless you live in LA or are planning on being in town for the 16 days of the Games, you want to make sure that you are looking at tickets for events and dates close to one another. Explore the Olympic competition schedule here 

Don’t forget that for football, group and early knockout rounds are NOT in LA (the location is listed when you are buying tickets but we have all seen those TikToks and Instagram videos where people realized after the fact that they bought tickets for all around the country!)

I would urge caution and restraint if you want to attend multiple events in a day. If you do, choose very large gaps in times between the two sessions (ie one morning and one late afternoon or evening sessions) and/or opt for events/venues that are close to each other.

And give yourself LOTS of time between the events – you are likely to underestimate how long it will take between getting in and out of venues (security and just dealing with large masses of people) and getting to venues (driving, parking and walking).

And THEN There’s THIS Major Shift!

Don’t forget that at LA28, Athletics will anchor the first week of the games while swimming moves entirely to the second week which is flip-flopped from previous Olympics!

Set a Budget (and Stick to It)

It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the excitement.

Perhaps the other way to think about the sports is to assign a $ to each such as you would pay $XXXX to see Women’s Gymnastics or any Men’s Basketball game and would consider handball or BMX but only for if tickets are within the $28 – $50 range.

Remember that list you made? Add those $ amounts next to the sport and again, have it next to you while you shop!

If everything available is over your budget, it’s okay to walk away empty-handed. There will be more opportunities to buy tickets between now and 2028 and you don’t want to waste your 12 tickets maximum on tickets that you will likely regret overspending on later. See my next point….

Also account for the 24% Service Fee!

Yeah – oof. The good news (if you can call it that lol) is that the 24% processing fee is already included when you see the ticket prices during your purchase window. Along with the 12 ticket maximum, the high processing fee are the biggest reasons why I urge you not to panic buy (and personally why I opted out of buying tickets during the Visa Presale!)

Ready, Set, GOOOOOO – During Your Time Slot

While nothing is guaranteed as ticket inventory is constantly changing, you have put yourself in a very nice position with all of that extra work beforehand. Remember that luck is simply when preparation meets opportunity =)

Note: from what others have told me and what I saw myself is that LA28 drops all of the tickets at the beginning of ticket drops (vs periodically replenishing the ticket supply during the ticket windows, as Paris2024 did).

Don’t Miss Your Time Slot

Set multiple alarms if you need to.

It sounds silly, but I know people who completely forgot about their purchase window and logged in hours later. By then, many of the best options were gone since tickets were all dropped at the beginning. See the point made above.

Signing In Best Practices

Get on to the site and begin to log in BEFORE your time slot as there will likely be a lengthy queue. I got onto the website about 30 minutes before my time slot and it took that long until I was out of that queue to even log into my account.

NOTE: it is an active queue (ie there will be times when you have to do a CAPTCHA to prove you’re human or other times to just hit confirm that you are still there to not lose your spot in line!)

Avoiding a “We are sorry, your access has been restricted” message

Learn from my mistake!

Avoid any actions that might obscure or hide your IP address. The use of proxies, VPNs, or other methods to conceal your real IP could trigger security measures and result in blocked access.

• If you are using an Apple device, disable your iCloud Private Relay feature and try again. On your device, go to Settings -> [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay, then tap on “Turn Off Private Relay”.
• Turn off your privacy network feature (like Zscaler etc.) and try connecting directly to the internet

Use the Filters to Search

The ticket site lets you filter by price, sport, session, and more. Remember that you had already done your research and have a leg up on others so you just need to search for the tickets and prices that you want so use those filters!

It sounds obvious, but double-check you’re buying the event you actually want. Some of the common ones: Artistic Gymnastics = Vault, Beam, Floor, Rings routine vs Rhythmic Gymnastics = Ball, Hoop and Ribbon; Athletics = Track and Field; Football = Soccer

And speaking of football, a reminder that the group and early knockout stage matches are NOT in LA!

Be Realistic About What Will Be Available

Remember how ticket pricing works – you will not be able to find cheap front row tickets nor any cheap tickets to any of the semi-final and final of popular events (especially Swimming, Artistic Gymnastics, Tennis, Athletics or Basketball), nor the Opening/Closing Ceremonies – and really this should NOT be a surprise to you at all since you did look at the LA28 ticket price list I made right?!

And know that those extremely popular events are really hard to get with the reality being that most of us won’t get tickets to those. *sigh, why I never saw Simone Biles at Paris2024!*

SERIOUSLY NO Panic Buying!

During the previous ticket drops, tickets placed in your cart were held for about 30 minutes (my email announcing my time slot and subsequent reminders did mention this so check yours for the most up-to-date information)

That gives you time to compare sessions, double-check your selections, and make sure you weren’t making expensive impulse purchases while also not losing out on the possibility of buying the tickets that are in your cart.

Don’t Feel Like You Have to Buy Something

This is probably the hardest advice to follow.

Just because you have a purchase window doesn’t mean you have to use all 12 tickets or spend your entire budget.

If the options don’t work for you, it’s okay to wait for a future sale. There are still multiple ticket releases planned before the Games begin.

Note that I did not buy any tickets during my Visa Presale time slot. And why not?! Due to the combination of ticket price shock, 24% service fee and 12 ticket maximum. And I also did not buy any tickets during my Paris2024 time slot. Why not? The logistics at the time were not working out for me ie hotels had not released any award room inventory.

Don’t Forget About the Paralympics

If Olympic tickets don’t work out, or you’re looking for a different experience, don’t overlook the Paralympics.

Tickets are often easier to get, prices tend to be lower, and the atmosphere is incredible.

You Can Still Enjoy the Olympics With Just One Event Ticket OR Even None!

One thing Paris2024 taught me is that you don’t need a full schedule of competition tickets to have an amazing Olympic trip.

If you can get tickets to even one event that is within your budget, fantastic. But don’t think your trip is ruined if you aren’t inside an Olympic venue every day!

I know people that went to Paris to be in the city during that time and didn’t attend any events and still others who went to World Cup host cities without attending matches and they all had a great time (while bring able to stay within their budgets).

One of my favorite parts about those Olympics were all the free events that were honestly as fun to experience as some of the events!

Expect for LA28 to have plenty of Olympic activities beyond competition, including:

• National hospitality houses
• Live watch parties
• Pin collecting and trading opportunities
• Olympic photo opportunities

Good Luck!

If you have a later purchase window, be patient, stay flexible, and focus on buying tickets that actually fit your budget and priorities—not just whatever happens to be available.

Good luck! I hope you score some amazing tickets, and hopefully I’ll see you at LA28!

Curious What I Spent for My PARIS2024 Tickets?

Costs were so low here as Paris2024 actively kept ticket prices and fees reasonable and I really lucked out with some incredible last minute seats.

My Total Spend on the Games was actually $736.40 – I did buy and sell some tickets (ie I ended up with multiple beach volleyball sessions but kept only the one with the incredible seat and ended up selling the first athletics Athletics ticket I bought when a better seat became available). This is the reason why the 24% service fee is such a killer for me, we won’t be able to use the same tactics for LA28 to get great seats.

PLUS I did buy the commemorative paper tickets (and those were also more affordable than what LA28 is charging).