LA28 ticket website leaves fans in the dark: ‘Your site is just as good as your governor’

Angelenos trying to snag 2028 Summer Olympics tickets hit hurdles of their own, as the event’s glitchy website spewed errors, frustrating fans and delaying purchases. Organizers for LA28 announced in a post on X on Thursday presale tickets for residents in LA and Oklahoma City were available for folks who had been assigned time slots following eligibility verification. Organizers also posted several helpful “pro tips” on social media that they said would make the purchase process go smoother.

Including the following: If you’re adding multiple sessions to your Shopping Cart, the checkout button at the bottom of the preview might appear to be hidden. It is not! Resize your window or adjust your browser’s zoom to make sure that the button is visible and you can check out.

Time slots are all given in Pacific Time (PT) using the 24-hour clock. Please note that times for the sessions you can purchase are given in the local time zone of where the venue is located.

In response, people started blowing up online about not being able to buy tickets, sharing screenshots error messages they were getting and being told their access was denied.

“Your site is just as good as your governor,” one person wrote, along with sharing an error screenshot that said “something unexpected happened, please try again.” Another person wrote, “My time slot started at 1600 PT on April 2 but I hadn’t received an email to purchase. What do I do?”

“I’m getting an error even though it’s my allocated time,” a third person opined. A fourth person added, “The website glitched so much I never came back to register!”

“Same as others, access denied, was able to get in for a split second then when logging in ‘something went wrong,’” a fifth person wrote. Others pointed out that they were getting messages warning them not to use a VPN connection when they didn’t have one or weren’t even using.

“Getting these two errors in two different browsers. Not using a VPN or private relay. No idea why this is happening.

So frustrating!!!” ” one message read. Another added, “I don’t have a VPN and my iCloud private relay is off. Trying to log in now but my window is tomorrow.”

Time slot notifications were to be sent out through emails on a “rolling basis from March 31-April 4,” per the LA28 Olympic website.

“On April 7, email notifications with time slots to purchase tickets within Drop 1 will be sent to randomly selected fans who entered the LA28 Ticket Draw.” LA and OKC residents whose billing postal codes fall within qualifying counties were automatically entered into the LA & OKC Locals Presale draw, per the website. General public tickets go on sale starting April 9.

Already, over 5 million fans worldwide have registered for ticket access to the games. Registration was required to secure a time slot to the first drop of tickets.

“This week marks the first opportunity for fans to claim a seat at the LA28 Olympic Games,” Reynold Hoover, LA28 Chief Executive Officer said in a statement on the site.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the outpouring of enthusiasm from fans all around the world, and we’re counting down the final days to people being able to secure their tickets to history.” The Olympic Games kick off with the Opening Ceremony on July 14, 2028 and run through July 30, 2028. The LA28 Paralympic Games are scheduled from August 15, 2028, to August 27, 2028.

The California Post has reached out to organizers for further comment.