How to Buy LA28 Olympic Basketball Tickets: A Step-by-Step Guide to the 2027 Sale

How LA28 ticketing is set up

Before getting into dates and tactics, it helps to know who does what. Olympic tickets for Los Angeles 2028 are sold by the organizing committee, LA28, through its ticketing site, la28.org/ticketing, and its shop at Tickets.LA28.org. The technology behind it comes from two ticketing service providers, AXS and Eventim. Visa is LA28’s “Official Way to Pay,” and that partnership produced a dedicated Visa presale in 2026. Hospitality packages are a separate product, sold by On Location, LA28’s exclusive hospitality provider.

Everything in this guide refers to those channels. We are an independent site, not affiliated with LA28, and we do not sell tickets. Our job is to explain the process clearly and to tell you when the next window opens.

Every LA28 ticket phase so far, in one table

LA28 ran its 2026 sales in stages. Here is the full sequence, with official dates in Pacific Time where LA28 gave them, plus the step that comes next.

Phase	Dates	How it worked
Draw 1 registration	Jan 14, 2026 (7:00 a.m. PST) to Mar 18, 2026 (11:59 p.m. PST)	Free registration for a random draw; no guarantee of tickets
Draw 1	On or after Mar 19, 2026	Winners assigned a random time slot for Drop 1
LA & OKC Locals Presale	Apr 2, 2026 (10:00 a.m.) to Apr 8, 2026 (4:00 p.m. PST)	Eligible residents of greater Los Angeles and Oklahoma City
Drop 1	Apr 9, 2026 (10:00 a.m.) to Apr 19, 2026 (10:00 a.m. PST)	Purchase during assigned time slot
Draw 2 registration	Mar 19 to Jul 22, 2026 (11:59 p.m. PST)	Registration for the second draw
Visa Presale	Registration Jun 10 to Jul 22; purchase Jul 29 (10:00 a.m. PT) to Jul 31, 2026 (4:00 p.m. PT)	Visa card required
Drop 2 time-slot notifications	Aug 6-7, 2026	Draw 2 winners told their slot
Drop 2	Aug 10-20, 2026	Time slots open for 48 hours; last general-public drop of 2026
Next: first-come, first-served sale	2027, date not announced as of Oct 9, 2026	No draw, no time slot, refreshed inventory, purchase limits removed

LA28 reported more than four million tickets sold after Drop 1 and more than six million Olympic tickets across Drops 1 and 2. Registrations climbed to 12 million by late July 2026, up from 5 million in February, according to LA28.

What the LA28 draw system taught buyers

The 2026 drops followed a logic that is easy to misread: registering did not mean buying. LA28’s official rules were explicit that registration gave no guarantee, and that people drawn would receive a random time slot. If your slot fell late in the window, many basketball sessions could already be gone. In Drop 2, each slot stayed open for 48 hours, which gave people more breathing room but did not change the order.

Three practical lessons came out of it. First, the people who did well had decided in advance which sessions they wanted and had a fallback list. Second, with a random order, a late slot was simply bad luck, so flexibility on dates paid off. Third, locals had a real edge: LA28 says nearly 75% of Drop 1 tickets went to residents of the LA and Oklahoma City regions, along with about 500,000 tickets at $28. That was by design, through the locals presale.

The 2027 LA28 first-come, first-served sale: what changes

LA28 announced on August 21, 2026 that the next phase would work very differently. Here is what is official:

• No draw and no time slot. When the sale opens, everyone can try at once.
• Refreshed inventory across all sports. LA28 says new tickets will be released, which means basketball sessions that looked sold out in 2026 may reappear.
• Purchase limits removed. The 12-ticket cap from 2026 no longer applies.
• Paralympic tickets. LA28’s first Paralympic ticket drop is also planned for 2027.

What is not known: the opening date, the opening time, whether there will be a virtual queue, how much basketball inventory will be added, and the prices of that new inventory. We will not guess. As of October 9, 2026, LA28’s own FAQ simply says “in 2027.”

Your checklist before the 2027 LA28 sale opens

Because the next sale rewards speed rather than luck, preparation is worth more than ever. Here is a sensible sequence:

1. Set up or check your LA28 account now. If you registered for a draw in 2026, confirm you can still log in and that your contact details are current.
2. Sign up for alerts. Use LA28’s own communications and, if you like, our independent alert, so you hear about the opening date the day it is announced.
3. Pick your sessions in order of priority. Write down three to five basketball sessions you would be happy with, from a group-phase double-header to a semi-final or a medal game. Our schedule page has every day and time.
4. Decide on a budget and a group size. With no purchase limit, the temptation is to buy for everyone. Agree in advance who pays and how many seats you need.
5. Prepare payment. Have a valid card ready. Visa is LA28’s official payment partner; check the payment options LA28 lists when the sale opens.
6. Clear your calendar for the opening moment. Be at a reliable computer or phone, logged in, a few minutes before opening.
7. Keep a fallback. If 5x5 sessions go fast, consider 3x3 in the Valley, or watch for LA28’s verified resale, which opens in 2027.

Choosing Olympic basketball sessions wisely

Basketball has a lot of sessions, and they are not all equal. The group phase runs from July 12 to July 21 at the Intuit Dome, with a midday double-header (two games for one ticket) and evening sessions at 6:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. PT. Quarter-finals are played July 22-25, two sessions per day. Semi-finals take place on July 26 (women) and July 27 (men). Medal games run from July 28 to July 30.

If your goal is simply to experience Olympic basketball, the group phase usually offers more seats and more games per ticket. If you want stakes, quarter-finals are the first knockout games, and you do not need to wait for a final to see a team eliminated. Remember that teams are unknown when you buy: the women’s field will be completed in February 2028 and the men’s in early July 2028. The qualification page explains the path.

LA28 basketball tickets: prices, fees and the hospitality option

LA28’s published numbers apply to the Games as a whole: tickets from $28, more than one million $28 tickets, nearly half of Olympic tickets under $200, more than three quarters (finals included) under $400, and about 5% premium seats above $1,000. LA28 has not published a basketball price grid by session in its press releases, and we do not reproduce unofficial figures. Fees, if any, will be shown at checkout on the official site.

If budget matters less than certainty, On Location sells official hospitality packages that combine a ticket with premium services. They have been sold first-come, first-served since early 2026 and include basketball and 3x3 options. They cost more than a standard ticket, but they are an official channel. Check the current status on the LA28 ticketing page.

Get the LA28 sale opening date the day it is announced

The single most important piece of information you are missing right now is the date of the 2027 sale. Our free email alert exists to deliver it: we write when LA28 announces the date, when the sale opens, and when a new phase starts, such as the verified resale program. We are independent, not affiliated with LA28, the IOC or FIBA, and we never sell or promise Olympic tickets. For what to avoid in the meantime, read our guide to resale and scams.