
0
One Angeleno’s Journey Through Olympics Ticket Madness
April 13, 2026
Defector
I had not felt this nervous since buying BTS concert tickets. Like many other Southern California residents, I had dutifully signed up for the presale of tickets to the 2028 Olympic Games. These tickets, we were told, would be available exclusively for us. Well, for us and also residents of Oklahoma City, where softball and canoe slalom will be contested.

The arrangement seemed something like a reward for our city hosting one of the largest, most popular, and most outrageously logistically challenging sporting events in the world. It's certainly more than residents are getting for hosting several World Cup games. The advertisements even told us that more than 1 million tickets would be available for the low price of 28. (Get it? Because it's 2028!) So I signed up through LA28's very neon-pink website, and so did my husband. So did many others. LA28's press update said we were joined in the digital line by more than 5 million people from around the world. Beyond that, nobody in Los Angeles really knew what to expect until, suddenly, the emails began arriving. Some of us were chosen—and some of us were not. The ticket draw for locals was scheduled to start on April 2, but word began popping up in various corners of the internet that some people were already getting emails at random saying they had not been selected. A decent portion of the city turned to incessantly refreshing its email, which did not make anyone happier or saner. Conversations with other adult Angelenos hoping for Olympics tickets took on the tenor of high school kids applying to college: Did you get in? How are you feeling about the process? And why won't anyone tell us anything?
Defector
Coverage and analysis from United States of America. All insights are generated by our AI narrative analysis engine.