LA28 Ticket Demand Hits 12 Million as Visa Presale Opens Two Years Out
Registrations for 2028 Olympic tickets have more than doubled since February, and a three-day Visa presale now under way is the last early door before Drop 2 opens August 10.
Two years before the flame is lit in Los Angeles, the scramble for seats is already historic. LA28 announced on July 29 that ticket registrations have surged past 12 million — up from 5 million in February — with fans signed up from more than 200 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
The announcement landed alongside the opening of a Visa cardholder presale, running July 29–31, which gives selected registrants early access to tickets across every Olympic sport ahead of the main event: Drop 2, which runs August 10–20.
How Drop 2 works
Fans selected through the ticket draw will be notified by email on August 6–7 with an assigned time slot, and each slot stays open for 48 hours. Purchase limits carry over from the first sale: up to 12 Olympic session tickets per person, up to 12 more for the soccer tournament, and a four-ticket cap per Opening or Closing Ceremony.
The first drop in April moved more than 4 million tickets, and the sale skewed heavily local — nearly 75% of Drop 1 tickets went to residents of the Los Angeles and Oklahoma City areas (OKC hosts canoe slalom and softball), according to LA28. The organizing committee says roughly half a million of its signature $28 tickets went to local fans in that first wave.
"Twelve million people registered for a chance to buy tickets, a historic show of excitement, and it's only the beginning," said LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover.
Why it matters
Demand at this scale, this early, is a real signal. The registration pool has grown faster between February and July than most host cities manage across a full cycle, and it gives LA28 — a privately funded Games — a strong hand on the revenue line long before 2028. For fans, the practical takeaway is simpler: the draw system means registration, not refresh-speed, decides who gets a shot, and the next real window is August 10.