Early 2028 Olympics ticket sales begin for local applicants. Here’s what to know

Early ticket sales for a pool of pre-registered locals begin Thursday for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Southern California and Oklahoma City residents — some competitions will be at venues in Oklahoma City — selected through a random drawing can buy tickets in this first round of the ticketing process. Those who signed up in advance will received an email if they were selected for a purchasing window during the April 2-6 sales round.

The notifications were expect to arrived about 48 hours before the assigned time slot, providing a two-day window to complete purchases online. A broader public sale is set for April 9-19, when remaining tickets will be made available to fans worldwide.

Each selected buyer will be allowed to purchase up to 12 tickets, plus an additional 12 tickets for Olympic soccer matches, organizers said. Purchases for the opening and closing ceremonies will be capped at four tickets per person.

Organizers cautioned that buyers may encounter online queues when accessing the ticketing platform. Fans will be able to search for events by sport, venue or location, although specific seat assignments will be determined at a later time.

Ticket prices are expected to vary widely, with entry-level seats starting at $28 and premium tickets exceeding $1,000, according to organizers. LA28 said about half of all tickets will cost more than $200, with roughly 5% priced above $1,000.

Only purchasers with billing addresses tied to qualifying ZIP codes in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties will be eligible for the local pre-sale, organizers said. Additional ticket releases are planned in the coming months, along with a resale market expected to launch in 2027.

Earlier this week, LA28 announced details about its verified ticket resale program.

Images: See venues planned for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

When are the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?

The Olympics will return to Los Angeles for an historic third time in 2028.

The LA 2028 Olympics Opening Ceremony is July 14, 2028 with competition through July 30, 2028. The LA28 Paralympic Games will kick off Aug. 15, 2028 and close Aug. 27, 2028. 

The organizing committee has released a first look at the competition schedule. Field hockey, basketball, rugby sevens, water polo, handball and cricket will be the first sports to kick off the competition on July 12, two days before the Opening Ceremony.

The first full date of competition, designated Day 1, is July 15. The order of events includes a twist for 2028 with track and field and swimming swapping their typical schedules. Track and field will compete at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the first week of the Olympics schedule with swimming moving to the second week at SoFi Stadium.

The marathons will still be on the final weekend.

The first medal will be awarded in triathlon on Day 1 in Venice Beach. July 29, or Day 15, will be the busiest day on the podium with 16 gold and bronze events in team sports and 19 individual medal events.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will host the opening ceremony in a duel-venue celebration. The Paralympic opening ceremony will be at SoFi Stadium with the closing ceremony at the Coliseum.

New for the 2028 Olympics

The program approved for 2028 has 22 more medal events than Paris 2024 at 351.

Mixed team events added for 2028 include artistic gymnastics, athletics (4×100 mixed gender relay), golf, archery (compound bow), coastal rowing beach sprint and table tennis. The competition format for the new artistic gymnastic mixed team event will be finalized and announced at a later date.

The medal competition includes expansions to the field of women’s soccer and water polo event, a new women’s boxing weight class, an expanded 3×3 basketball field, and more medal events in swimming and sport climbing.

Flag football will make its Olympic debut in 2028 and lacrosse will return to the lineup of medal sports for the first time in more than a century. Baseball and softball will make their Olympic comeback, and cricket also will be part of the lineup.

See the full list of medal events here.