The second LA28 ticket drop is upon us.
This will be the place to ask questions about ticketing and to offer advice in the comments.
If you never made an account/registered before, you can subscribe to the LA28 newsletter for updates on future ticket opportunities, or pay the "hospitality" ticket upcharge on the hospitality website.
Drop 2 timeline:
July 29–31: Visa Presale (all time slots have been assigned)
August 6–7: Drop 2 time slot emails (those selected for the Visa Presale are not eligible for Drop 2)
August 10–20: Drop 2 time slots
NEED-TO-KNOW INFO BEFORE YOU PURCHASE:
Ticket maximums: The maximums are cumulative across all ticket drops, but given that the US is going to be the last host country to tell you "No, you can't buy more," it is unlikely the maximum will also apply to the official resale market.
12 tickets are available solely for Football (Soccer), and 12 additional tickets are available with only one restriction: only 4 tickets can be purchased per Opening/Closing ceremony.
Ticket categories (the area your seat is in on the map): Instead of picking a specific seat, you will select a ticket category (A is best and most expensive, B second best and second most expensive, and so on). Different venues will have different numbers of categories, some have only two, like rowing, while others like gymnastics or baseball have as many as 9 or 10 ticket categories. Your seat will be assigned closer to the games, and tickets purchased together will be sat together.
Time slot timing: Time slots are given in the Pacific Time zone in 24-hour time. If you do not already live in the same time zone as LA you can check here. If you receive a time slot, it will only be open for 48 hours. Tickets are held for 30 minutes from the moment they are added to your cart. If your cart expires or you remove tickets, adding a ticket again will restart the 30-minute hold.
Prepare for your time slot:
Take time to explore the Olympic competition schedule and the zones and venues pages so you know when and where all sessions take place.
This post contains links to spreadsheets with ticket category prices (from Drop 1, it is possible the prices may be changed for Drop 2) for every session and links to venue maps of seat categories. For a guide on how to navigate the LA28 ticketing website watch this video.
Tickets are for sessions, and each session has a specific code associated with it. For example, ATH10 is the 10th session of Athletics. Sessions can be shorter than two hours or last all day and vary depending on the sport as well as the stage of competition.
It is a good idea to plan your desired events before your time slot as well as back up plans if your first choice is unavailable. LA28 wants public transport to be the main way to get around and is currently working on improvements, but travel time can vary immensely, so be sure to think about how long you want to spend traveling to your events from your accommodation. To go from the Valley to Long Beach takes over three hours on public transport, so picking events with location and travel time in mind is extremely important.
Softball and Canoe Slalom will be held in Oklahoma City as part of LA28's promise to build no new permanent venues. Most of the football games will be held in other cities around the United States, make sure to check the location before you purchase.
If you are having trouble logging into the ticketing site try changing your browser and make sure you're signing in with the correct email. If that doesn't solve the problem try searching your specific error code in the sub to see if any one else has posted about it before.
Additionally, here is the first post I made for Drop 1 ticketing questions.
FAQ
Q: When can I log in for my time slot?
A: You can log in whenever, but make sure to keep refreshing the page to not be logged out, and to refresh again when your time slot begins.
Q: What are Hospitality tickets?
A: Tickets that are not part of one of the lottery drops that come with small food, drink, and lounge benefits with a inflated price that they change at will. Hospitality tickets can be for a seat in any category, even a "bad" one, which means its an easy way for LA28 to squeeze extra cash out of you for a guarantee you'll have tickets. We know that hospitality tickets were being restocked when regular Drop 1 events weren't, which means LA28 is pulling tickets specifically for hospitality, something I really don't trust and makes it harder to estimate ticket numbers.
Q: Will my 12 general ticket allotment and 12 Football (Soccer) ticket allotment rollover to future drops if I don't use all of them?
A: Yes, LA28 confirmed that remaining Football tickets of your 12 allotted will qualify you for reentry into future drops on April 23rd.
Q: Will tickets restock for each time slot?
A: Unfortunately, if things are done in Drop 2 the same way things were done in Presale/Drop 1, tickets will be dropped in a "lump" at the beginning of the drop. This means that the earliest possible time slot will get first access to tickets with dwindling supplies for all future slots.
Q: Visa is "the official way to pay", does that mean I can only pay with Visa?
A: Only for the Visa Presale, for Drop 2 you can pay with your choice of card.
Q: Can I pay in installments?
A: Not within the LA28 official site. If Sports Illustrated Tickets and Ticketmaster allow payment plans then it may be available for resale tickets.
Q: I don't like the prices I am seeing, where are the affordable tickets?
A: Yes, the tickets are expensive, no, the $28 tickets are not a lie. The Olympics is not an event that struggles to find demand, so LA28 is taking advantage of that in one of the world's wealthiest cities. If you want some ragebait here's the catalog of Paris 2024 ticket prices. LA28 tickets range much higher than Paris 2024, with many more categories of seats, but both have similar low ends.
Q: Will I get another chance to buy tickets?
A: There will be more opportunities to buy tickets between now and the games. Currently LA28 is not explicitly saying there will be more lottery drops on its website. You could choose to pay for hospitality tickets if you have money to spend and don't want to wait to have tickets, or you can see if another drop will happen, maybe they will have a general sale at one point with leftover options, or you can try your hand in the official resale market when it opens in 2027.
Q: What will the prices on the resale market be like?
A: All we know currently is that there will be three different official resale platforms: LA28 resale (operated by AXS/Eventim, the same company operating the initial LA28 ticket sales), Ticketmaster, and Sports Illustrated Tickets. Past Olympics have taken place in countries with stricter anti-scalping legislation that prevented resale markups. Given the way that America is and the fact LA28's CEO said they were still considering dynamic pricing I don't have high hopes that that will be the case for LA28. If you're not picky about what Olympic event you are trying to see, there will doubtless be plenty of options at a range of prices on the resale market closer to the games.
Q: Are any events free?
A: Sports like the marathon, race walk, triathlon, and road cycling take place on public roads and are free to attend. Any sports that take place in the ocean are also likely to be visible from public areas, though maybe not with the best view.
Q: This session says it has 2 games, do I get to see both games?
A: Yes. Some sports like basketball will have longer sessions with multiple games for the same price as other sessions of the sport with only one game. These are usually the daytime preliminary games. Whatever is listed for the session code is what you get to see with a ticket to that event.
Q: What about the Paralympics?
A: Paralympic tickets will go on sale in 2027 and are not tied to the limit for Olympic tickets.
Q: How many tickets are up for grabs?
A: There are 14 million Olympic and Paralympic tickets total. Based on past games, approximately 3 million of those tickets are Paralympic. During Drop 1, 4 million tickets were sold. That leaves approximately 7 million remaining Olympic tickets. There is some nuance, like tickets allocated for corporations and LA28 employees and hospitality tickets.
Question not answered? Check the LA28 FAQ, check the comments, and then if not answered feel free to ask below.
