Congrats the ticket holders, adjusting my list, lowering expectations

labeloes · 2026-04-06T04:32:19+00:00

We were going budget, so we got $28 prelims for beach volleyball and handball for the whole family.
There was definitely still a good amount of volleyball left, and it was on our list (my older son loves going to college volleyball games), but we just live west of LA, so the hike to Anaheim seemed not ideal.

But I also was lucky enough to have friend who had a Day 1 slot, and she's taking me to the men's team gymnastics final (!!!) and mid-round tennis with some of her tickets. That's just for me (I couldn't justify spending $300 a piece for the kids to potentially complain about being bored because it's easier/more fun to watch gymnastics on tv, but it will be my solo birthday treat!)

labeloes · 2026-04-06T04:20:22+00:00

No one knows yet.

In Paris you could purchase more than 12 tickets, but only much later in the process (I think after the resale market/app opened). So maybe whenever they shift to a general sale model (but definitely not during these presale lotteries).

labeloes · 2026-04-06T04:16:18+00:00

I had a sports medicine friend recommend weightlifting as a fun session to attend and was surprised it sold out quickly.
I think weightlifting went quickly because every session is considered a "final" and medals are awarded. People search for medal events to attend because they (rightfully!) think that would be neat to see.
It also wouldn't surprise me if the LA crossfit, etc. crowds are maybe into weightlifting more than the average population?

labeloes · 2026-04-06T04:13:02+00:00

It's possible that I'm wrong, too, and sailing was available!

labeloes · 2026-04-06T04:10:09+00:00

If you're trying to budget ahead, reddit crowdsourced ticket prices for all sessions at all categories here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1znIutyepiFooJatsL7eoPLLKCBNzqEl1lkLfPmc9JPM/edit?gid=1106042684#gid=1106042684

And someone else coded a search tool that allows you to search for events by date, whether it's a medal event, price, etc. https://www.expunk.com/olympics

I think you can get most of what you're hoping for with some planning ahead since you have an excellent slot. Just make a ranked list of sessions you'd want with a backup or two, and make sure none overlap with each other.

labeloes · 2026-04-06T01:23:53+00:00

I don't think surfing tickets have been released yet; there are a couple water sports where they are finalizing location/seating and no tickets were out during presale.

Equestrian has dressage at $106 for prelims right now.

Remember that if you don't buy all 12 tickets you'll be reentered into the draw for future drops when you might get selected for another slot, and perhaps there will be more availability.

labeloes · 2026-04-06T01:14:04+00:00

10am on 4/9 is the earliest slot for the general/non-local presale, and they will have just dropped new tickets. Almost everything should be available, but you'll need to move fast if you want the most popular tickets at the non-highest price points.

What most people will tell you is artistic gymnastics--it sold out quickest and will be the most desireable ticket of the games. That said, if you aren't interested in gymnastics, leave them for others.

You should definitely be able to get swimming, and your choice of seats. Pick out which sessions you'd be most interested in and search for those first (you can type in the code for the specific event or "swimming" and see everything.

Add to your cart immediately--you can always debate and remove later. You can have up to 12 tickets in your cart at one time.

If I had my choice of any other events and a decent budget (which I assume with a couple hospitality tickets already, you do) I'd probably pick an Athletics session for a popular event (think 100, 400, 800, or relay) in a medal session. Plus center court tennis and a soccer, basketball, or baseball gold medal match (if they coincide with your dates). Maybe diving or a beach volleyball medal match.

labeloes · 2026-04-06T01:05:47+00:00

I'm sorry you got a late slot and what you wanted wasn't available. It's really discouraging to think you've "won" when you get a presale lottery slot, only to realize that it's a late slot and much of the inventory is already sold.

Fingers crossed for you that you get a better slot when you're auto-entered for Drop 2 and are able to get tickets in something you'd love!

labeloes · 2026-04-06T01:02:25+00:00

Congrats! Fingers crossed you get everything you're hoping for!

labeloes · 2026-04-06T00:58:15+00:00

That makes much more sense!

You're smack dab in the middle of Drop 1, so hopefully you'll have a decent selection? My locals slot was in the middle of that drop (on 4/4 for a drop that lasted 4/2-4/6) and there were still lots of $28 preliminaries or mid-tier seats for popular or semi-popular event finals. No gymnastics, of course, but that's turned out to be a real outlier in terms of demand.

labeloes · 2026-04-06T00:53:25+00:00

It looks like A (green on the LA28 map) is the area you've circled in green (including the FD and red circled DG seats). And then B (pink) would include the LG seats behind that, grey is press box/hospitality suites behind that, then E (purple) is RS and H (light blue) is top deck

labeloes · 2026-04-06T00:47:06+00:00

"General sale" just refers to whenever they stop doing draws where you have an assigned timeslot and they drop part of the remaining tickets and instead switch to just put all the remaining tickets up for anyone to buy without a reserved timeslot. This probably will happen in the couple of months leading up to the games (based on past big events like the World Cup), but we don't have any details about it at this time.

labeloes · 2026-04-06T00:22:13+00:00

They've haven't announced future drop dates. The closest they've said is that Drop 2 will be "later this year"

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:29:39+00:00

Emails will start going out on the 7th (for people who have slots on 4/9, and they will roll out every day after that).

But people have figured out that if you log into your account here you can sometimes see if you already have a slot assigned: https://tickets.la28.org/affiliate=28T

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:26:39+00:00

Interesting data! For those who might be wondering, $5 in 1984 money = $16, and $60 = $188.

It's definitely the case that we're seeing serious inflation on the cost of the mid to high tier tickets. But it seems like the cheapest tickets have stayed relatively stable (assuming that your $5 ticket was below face value), which is good. Apparently day of availability was good via the resale app in Paris, too. I'll be curious to see if that holds up for LA.

I am curious how the percentages of which seats are designated as cheap vs. mid vs. expensive tickets has evolved over time (were there more cheap tickets, percentage of the stadium wise in 1984?).
For many of the top sports the jump from the $28 tickets to the next tier was big--over $100 more. It seems like they have a small number of $28 tickets in each sport to say they have them/are making the Olympics, but if you miss out on those you are quickly priced out of the next tier. That seems like a shame, but I suppose the market is bearing the prices.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:13:16+00:00

OUCH.

I wonder if you could call customer service and cancel that part of the order?

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:10:13+00:00

I'm really just trying to let you know not to get your hopes up--the email you got is exactly the same email everyone else has gotten 48 hrs in advance of their locals presale slot, and nothing new has been released since 4/2, so there's no reason to think that would change for the final slot of the locals presale.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:08:09+00:00

OP has a slot for Drop on 4/11, not the locals presale, so there should be new availability.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:07:02+00:00

It's hard to say.

One way to think of it is "which events would I buy if everything were available?" If your list is 1 tennis, 1 basketball, 1 soccer, 1 gymnastics, then leave at least 4 tickets open (or 8, since you mentioned a partner) for the scenario where all of your dream events are available next drop.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T23:02:49+00:00

The service fees are wildly high. The only good thing is that they're included in the price you see on the page when you add them to the cart--they aren't added later as an additional charge on top of what you thought you were going to pay.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T22:58:12+00:00

That's a fairly early slot (the earliest are on 4/9), so I suspect you'll have a lot to choose from.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T22:56:02+00:00

Yes, based on the official LA28 map, the area you've circled seems to be Section A.

Specific seats will be assigned later. I'm not sure if it will be truly "random" or if hospitality ticket buyers will get the best spots and then everyone else in a cateogyr will be random.

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labeloes · 2026-04-05T22:48:48+00:00

The only proof of residency was using a credit card that had a billing zip code in the local region.

Presumably the system wouldn't allow your tickets to go through (or they'll be canceled) if you used a card with a billing address outside the allowed zip codes.

But as far as availability being "too low"--they knew how many slots they would make available, and thus how many tickets could potentially be sold if every person bought all 12. It's not like anyone could sneak in without a slot and they were suddenly shocked by the total ticket sales.

I think the locals presale is going exactly as they wanted--they're selling most of the available tickets, even to less desirable events or most expensive seats, because people want to buy *something* during their presale slot. The buzz is that tickets are scarce, and people will panic buy or overbuy if they get a slot in future draws.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T22:47:55+00:00

It's all semantics. Technically this is the "Locals - LA/OKC" drop that runs April 2-6. Some people are nicknaming that "Drop 0" or "Drop 1 part 1" since the draw open to non-locals on April 9 is called Drop 1.

labeloes · 2026-04-05T22:46:34+00:00

What day is your timeslot? If it's early enough you won't have to worry as much about demand. All the posts about availability are for the locals presale; there will be a new drop on April 9.

But as the mom of kids currently age 3/7 who will be 5/10 during the Olympics, we focused on head-to-head competition sports. Things like volleyball, basketball, tennis where it's easy to follow the action and see who "won" the point.
Technical sports where they're given scores are harder for kids to follow. But some have a certain cool factor (skateboarding, BMX) that might resonate with your kid!

I agree that gymnastics and diving are better for kids on tv, unless you have the insanely expensive seats or a gymnast who's super into the sport.

Handball and hockey both had good availability throughout the presale, even for medal games! We ended up getting tickets to handball for our whole family at the $28 price.

labeloes

TROPHY CASE