Despite their city hosting 2028 Olympics, some Angelenos may not be able to attend games

Before the locals presale for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics came to an end Monday, some Angelenos opted out of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend live events while others bit the bullet and paid more than they had anticipated.

That’s because they either found the ticket prices to be too high or were thrown off by service fees.

Despite Olympic officials advertising that tickets would be as low as $28, many people were not given a chance to buy the cheaper tickets.

Tony Anthony is among the Angelenos who were not able to find the $28 options.

“There were none available,” he said.

The lifelong Angeleno instead paid a lot more than $28. He said he purchased eight tickets for him and his family for over $11,000. The total price tag, Anthony said, included hundreds of dollars in service fees.

“We didn’t go top tier, but we were in approximately just over $1,000 range per ticket,” Anthony explained. “It’s a choice.”

But LA28 officials insisted that there are no surprise fees.

“If you see a ticket for $200, that includes the service fee already,” Allison Katz Mayfield with LA28 said. “When you go to check out, what they may be seeing is the fact that we break it out.”

When asked about the high ticket prices, Katz Mayfield said pricing was determined based on “a robust research in the market.”

“What we would kind of call regionally — within like kind of a six hour drive — and then nationally as well to really dig in and understand from the fans, from the population, what their willingness to pay looked like,” she said.

About 14 million tickets are expected to be sold for the LA28 Olympics and Paralympics: a quarter of those are under $200 apiece while a million tickets are supposed to be $28.

Katz Mayfield said LA28 organizers tried to “overweight” $28 tickets into the locals sale, explaining tickets at the lower price points will be available as each new window for purchase opens up.

“We wanted to make sure that local Angelenos had the greatest access to our $28 tickets,” she said.

For those who still may feel priced out, one suggestion is to consider checking out an unfamiliar sport. One woman told NBC Los Angeles that she could not get a ticket to gymnastics, so she bought tickets to an equestrian sport.