How Much Do LA28 Tickets Cost?

From $28 seats to four-figure ceremony tickets — what LA28 has published about prices, what Drop 1 actually sold, and what to expect in Drop 2.

Torch Editorial · 5 min read · Updated July 2026

LA28 prices run from symbolic to staggering, and both ends of that range made headlines in Drop 1. Here’s what the organizers have published, what the first on-sale actually looked like, and how to read a price when your Drop 2 slot opens.

The headline numbers

• Tickets start at $28 — a deliberate nod to the year. Half a million $28 tickets went on sale in the locals presale alone.
• LA28 has said nearly half of all Olympic tickets are priced under $200.
• At the top end, premium seats for marquee sessions — above all the Opening Ceremony — have been listed in the thousands of dollars, with media reporting seats above $5,000. That end of the market drew public pushback, and LA28 has defended the range by pointing at the affordable end.

What Drop 1 actually sold

The April on-sale moved over 4 million tickets to fans in 85 countries and all 50 US states. The affordable end was dominated by locals by design: Los Angeles and Oklahoma City area residents claimed roughly 75% of all Drop 1 tickets and 95% of the tickets priced under $100, through a presale that ran before the global window opened.

The practical consequence for everyone else: the cheapest seats are the scarcest, and they clear first. If a session you want shows only mid- or high-tier prices, that’s inventory, not a pricing change.

What to expect in Drop 2

LA28 says Drop 2 — running August 10–20 — offers tickets across all Olympic sports and at a range of price points, subject to inventory availability. That phrase is doing real work: nobody outside LA28 knows how much sub-$100 inventory survived Drop 1. Go in with a per-session budget rather than an expectation of a specific price. How the window works, the selection emails, and the 12-ticket limits are all in [our Drop 2 explainer](/guides/la28-ticket-drop-2-explained).

Ceremonies: the special case

Opening and Closing Ceremony tickets carry their own 4-ticket-per-Ceremony cap (counting toward your overall 12) and the widest price spread of the Games — LA28’s dual-venue ceremony concept spans the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. If the ceremony is your one must-have, expect the steepest competition for the affordable tiers.

The only safe places to pay

Official sales run through Tickets.LA28.org (powered by AXS and Eventim). LA28’s verified resale network doesn’t open until 2027, and the organizers caution against buying from anywhere else in the meantime — an unverifiable ticket at a great price is not a deal. If you strike out entirely, [here are the remaining routes to the Games](/guides/la28-drop-2-not-selected).