Tickets to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles may cost even more.
A new proposal to add a 10% tax to Olympic tickets starting next year was introduced this week at the Los Angeles City Council. The money raised would be used to cover the costs of providing city services as well as any debts from hosting.
If backed by the council, the tax would go to voters this November for final approval.
Ticket sales for the LA Games started earlier this year through a complicated process requiring buyers to register for a chance to make a purchase. Sign-ups to participate in the draw for the latest ticket drop continue through July 22.
The cost for tickets has drawn considerable criticism. Although a limited number of tickets are priced as low as $28, most were much more expensive. There’s also an added fee of 24% called “standard” in the industry.
LA-based director Alberto Belli, whose credits include a Disney Christmas movie, posted on X he’ll likely be “watching from the couch” after seeing it would end up costing $10,418 “for ‘O.K.’ seats” at the Opening Ceremonies for a family of four.
The ‘financial risk’ of the LA Games
The city council is focused on the possibility of the organizing committee’s budget, now about $7 billion, falling short. The city, along with the state of California, are the guarantors of the Games being staged by the privately funded LA28 organizing committee.
An agreement on payment for Games-related police, fire, sanitation, parking control and other services has yet to be worked out between the city and the organizing committee despite an October 2025 deadline for it to be finished.
“For the LA 28 (G)ames, there is a financial risk of major cost overruns that could leave Los Angeles taxpayers responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected expenses,” the motion from LA City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez warned.
“Although organizers have promoted the Games as privately funded, concern remains about rising security, transportation and infrastructure costs, especially as the city already faces budget pressures,” her motion continued.
Because of LA’s own ongoing budget issues, developing a new revenue stream by taxing Olympic tickets “is crucial to maintain basic city services,” according to the motion, which stated up to $270 million would be needed “in case of a overrun by LA28.”
The motion was referred to several council committees for review. Rodriguez said the proposed ticket tax was modeled on the 6% tax collected on tickets sold during the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles that turned a substantial profit.
She is also calling for an amendment to the city charter spelling out that the city will be fully reimbursed for any Olympic-related costs, as well as for an independent, third-party audit of the LA28 organizing committee post-Games.
Will there be a ‘recovery fee’ on tickets to Utah’s 2034 Winter Games?
Utah’s 2034 Winter Games are in a different situation. Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature voted to exempt the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games from collecting sales taxes on tickets.
That legislation, HB537, originally authorized the Utah organizing committee to “charge a government Olympic services recovery fee” to cover state and local public safety costs. Organizers, however, have not determined if they want to impose a fee on tickets.
There was no sales tax on tickets when Utah hosted the 2002 Winter Games.
Fraser Bullock, the Utah 2034 president and executive chair, said there’s already money set aside to reimburse local governments for the cost of services as part of a larger category in what’s a $4 billion privately funded budget.
So how much of the $154.8 million set aside for “Administration and Governance,” a category that includes office administration, finance, risk management, legal and planning, is expected to be paid to communities where Winter Games venues are located?
That’s confidential, Bullock said.
The major sources of revenue in the Utah organizing committee’s budget are from the sale of sponsorships, broadcast rights and tickets. There’s no state or local money in the budget, but Utah taxpayers are on the hook for any shortfalls under the contract signed by Gov. Spencer Cox.
While there no doubt will be a service fee collected on top of the price of Utah 2034 tickets, a decision on whether organizers add a separate fee to recover the costs of city services is several years away, Bullock said.
“Our model is that we enter in to a City Services Agreement with each venue city or county for extra services they provide related to the Games,” he said, so they will be reimbursed for their additional costs just as they were in 2002.
“As we negotiate these city service agreements and understand these full costs, we can look at fees on the sales of tickets to help recover those costs,” he said, adding that “at the end of the day, we have to look at the total amount that’s being paid” for tickets as well.
“We still want to have a significant portion of our tickets that are very affordable,” Bullock said, especially for Utahns. Organizers have committed to making at least 34,000 tickets available at a cost of $34 each.