Quick Answer: olympics 2028 los angeles
The LA28 Olympics run from 19 July to 4 August 2028 in Los Angeles, California, with events spread from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena la28.org. Australian passport holders need an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation, the US visa waiver) cleared before departure, and all international arrivals come through LAX. Tickets aren't on general sale yet; register your interest at la28.org to get early access when ballot rounds open.
Data is non-negotiable at a two-week international sporting event.
For mobile connectivity, pre-loading an eSIM is dead-simple and beats hunting for a SIM card at a jammed LAX arrivals hall. HelloRoam's eSIM for United States runs from ~A$4.45 for 1GB over 7 days on AT&T and Verizon's 5G networks. Pocket-friendly compared to what Telstra or Optus charge for international roaming day passes.
Key fact: HelloRoam USA plans start at ~A$4.45 for 1GB over 7 days on AT&T and Verizon 5G.
LA28 Olympics 2028 at a Glance: Quick Facts for Australian Fans
LA28 runs 19 July to 4 August 2028, and Australian fans face four concrete tasks before anything else: entry clearance, flights, tickets, and mobile connectivity sorted well ahead of departure.
Key fact: HelloRoam's 10GB 30-day USA plan runs at ~A$25.44 on AT&T and Verizon 5G, covering the full LA28 Games period without top-ups.
The ESTA is a common blind spot.
Apply before you book accommodation or lock in ticket ballots, not after. Three months out is sensible: most approvals clear within minutes, but occasional system delays happen. Don't leave it to the week before departure.
On Location, the official Olympics hospitality operator owned by Endeavor/IMG, bundles tickets, accommodation, and transfers. Pricey, but a sharp option for fans wanting certainty after committing to a 14-plus-hour return flight from Australia.
Getting there takes more planning than most overseas trips, and the booking window for reasonable fares is already open.
Getting from Australia to Los Angeles for the Olympics
Direct flights from Sydney (SYD) to Los Angeles International (LAX) run 13 to 14 hours on current aircraft; from Melbourne (MEL) to LAX, allow 15 to 16 hours. Both are serious long-haul commitments before the Games even begin.
Booking timing is the sharpest lever you have over cost.
Economy return fares run roughly A$1,800 to A$2,800 when booked 18 to 24 months out, putting the sweet spot in late 2026 through mid-2027. Wait until six to twelve months before the Games and fares push to A$2,500 to A$4,500 or beyond. Inside three months of the opening ceremony, premium pricing bites hard and seat availability collapses.
Three practical steps for Aussie fans:
- Move on flights before mid-2027. The early-booking window is real; it closes fast as Olympic demand builds and airlines adjust pricing to match.
- Fly into LAX, nowhere else. Long Beach Airport, Bob Hope Burbank, and Ontario International handle domestic routes only. LAX is the only gateway that works for Australians flying from Sydney or Melbourne.
- Check On Location packages early. The official hospitality operator bundles tickets, accommodation, and transfers. Not cheap, but for fans committed to a marquee event after a long-haul flight, the certainty is worth real money.
Qantas and United both operate direct SYD-LAX services. If frequent flyer points matter, check which codeshares earn on your preferred program before confirming.
Perth readers face a materially different journey from anything described above.
Perth to Los Angeles: The Connection Most Guides Miss
No direct Perth to Los Angeles flight exists. Perth travellers must connect through Sydney or Melbourne, adding four to six hours on top of an already punishing international leg. Total door-to-door travel from Perth runs to more than 20 hours each way.
That's a full day gone before you reach the Olympic precinct.
Book the entire journey as a single itinerary, not as two separate tickets. If you buy a Perth-to-Sydney domestic leg separately from the Sydney-to-LAX international booking, you wear the cost of a replacement flight if the domestic leg runs late and you miss the connection. One booking shifts that responsibility to the airline.
Sort mobile connectivity before leaving Perth, not on arrival at LAX. The airport is reliably chaotic at normal operating conditions; during an Olympics, expect every process to stretch longer.
An eSIM activated at home means you're navigating LA's metro network, ride-share apps, and venue maps the moment wheels touch down. No queue at a SIM kiosk, no fumbling through settings while jet-lagged, no relying on patchy airport Wi-Fi to find your ground transport pickup.
Flights confirmed. The question every fan is now asking: how do you actually get a ticket to LA28?
How Much Will LA 2028 Tickets Cost?
Official LA28 ticket pricing hasn't been released as of mid-2026 la28.org. The organising committee has confirmed a tiered pricing structure across events, but specific dollar figures are still being finalised alongside the broader venue schedule.
Paris 2024 is the closest benchmark. Opening ceremony seats at Paris ranged from USD $400 to over USD $2,700. Group-stage sporting events sat far lower, with historical pricing suggesting around USD $50 to USD $300 for heats and preliminary rounds. Athletics finals and aquatics events occupy the premium end; handball and volleyball group stages have traditionally been the more accessible entry point.
The ballot, not the checkout cart, is how LA28 tickets will move.
Drop 2, the current priority registration draw, is open at no cost through the LA28 official ticket ballot. Registering commits you to nothing and places you ahead of general public sale. With demand strong across North America and the Asia-Pacific, waiting for general release carries real risk. Australian fans should register now and track ballot announcements through 2027.
Compare eSIM plans for United States — See 2026 pricing →
Guaranteed entry sits at a different price level entirely. On Location, the official Olympics hospitality operator, packages tickets, accommodation, and transfers into bundles that reach USD $10,000 and above per person for premium tiers. These guarantee access without ballot uncertainty. Check onlocationexp.com when planning at that level of certainty.
Tickets resolved. Staying connected across Los Angeles is the next priority.
Staying Connected in Los Angeles During the 2028 Olympics
Australian carrier roaming in the US typically runs A$10-15 per day on Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone AU plans. Over a two-week trip, that daily charge compounds to somewhere between A$140 and A$210 before any data excess fees apply.
What the carrier plan summary rarely leads with: the daily charge triggers the moment your handset registers on a US network, regardless of how much data you actually consume. Spend an afternoon on SoFi Stadium's free Wi-Fi and the meter still runs.
Usage doesn't drive the charge. The calendar does.
An eSIM (a digital SIM profile installed by QR code) swaps that daily meter for a one-time flat fee. You install it on Australian Wi-Fi before boarding, and it starts pulling data on US 5G networks when you land at LAX. No terminal counter. No queue behind everyone else who remembered at the gate.
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles are both confirmed LA28 venues la28.org. Both carry strong 5G infrastructure on AT&T and Verizon's networks, meaning digital ticketing, venue navigation, and rideshare apps should perform reliably under full crowd load.
Tethering is supported on most eSIM data plans, which helps when one phone becomes the hotspot for a group moving between venues.
For any trip of five or more days in Los Angeles, flat-rate data wins the cost comparison without much dispute.
Data sorted. Navigating LA between venues is the next challenge.
Getting Around Los Angeles During LA28
Two transit lines matter most for getting around LA28. The K Line (Crenshaw/LAX) runs from the LAX area through Inglewood, where SoFi Stadium sits, directly into downtown Los Angeles. The Purple Line extension, set to reach Westwood and the UCLA campus well before the 2028 Games open, covers west-side venues that would otherwise require a rideshare into heavy traffic.
The TAP card is LA's transit card, functioning like Melbourne's Myki or Sydney's Opal. Load credit through the TAP app before leaving Australia; the machine queue at LAX arrivals will have every other arriving fan doing exactly the same thing on arrival day. Sorting it from home is a small step that saves a concrete amount of friction on landing.
The freeway is not the plan.
Olympic road congestion in Los Angeles will be significant. The city's freeway network operates at or near capacity under normal conditions. During the Games, road closures, security perimeters, and wave-pattern spectator arrivals compound that further. Rideshare surge pricing will spike, and navigation apps work hardest in exactly the conditions where a sluggish mobile data connection makes them least reliable.
Pre-trip transit checklist:
- Download the LA Metro app and trace the K Line route from LAX to Inglewood before you fly; knowing the stops removes guesswork on arrival day
- Load TAP card credit through the app from Australia, noting it can also be topped up remotely if you run short during the trip
- Download offline street maps as a fallback for any moment when venue mobile coverage saturates under crowd load
Transit covered. One question remains before you book: which cities are actually hosting which Games?
Where Will the 2028 and 2032 Olympics Be Held?
Confusing LA28 and Brisbane 2032 is understandable. The 2028 Summer Olympics are in Los Angeles, running 19 July to 4 August 2028. The 2032 Summer Olympics come to Brisbane, Australia's first home Games since Sydney in 2000 en.wikipedia.org. Same event format. Four years and an ocean apart.
A third event adds to the confusion. The 2026 Winter Olympics take place in Milan-Cortina, northern Italy, in February 2026, already concluded by the time LA28 planning reaches its peak. The Winter and Summer Games are distinct competitions with no shared ticketing, program, or logistics. Three different events, across three different cities, in three different years.
The sport program at LA28 has one notable subtraction. Boxing has been removed entirely by the IOC. Three events replace it: flag football, cricket T20, and squash, each chosen partly for their appeal across North American and global markets en.wikipedia.org. For Australian fans, cricket appearing on the Olympic program in Los Angeles is the standout addition.
LA28 and Brisbane 2032 require separate planning from the ground up. For LA28: Australian passport holders currently enter the US through the ESTA (electronic travel authorisation under the US visa waiver programme), require a US mobile data plan, and fly through LAX. For Brisbane 2032: no visa, domestic flights, and your existing Australian carrier plan. The events share a logo family and almost nothing else.
The full Games calendar makes planning both trips viable from a single timeline.
What Should Australian Fans Do Now to Prepare for LA28?
Six concrete steps, in rough priority order, put Australian fans ahead of the LA28 rush. The most time-sensitive: register at la28.org. It's free and positions you ahead of the general queue when ticket ballots open to the public.
Work through the rest in sequence:
- Register at la28.org for early ticket access now. Free, takes two minutes, and the earlier you're in the system, the better your queue position.
- Book flights in the window noted above (late 2026 to mid-2027) for the strongest economy fares. Perth travellers: factor in a connection through Sydney or Melbourne from the start.
- Book refundable accommodation only after tickets are confirmed. Locking in non-refundable rooms without a ticket is an expensive gamble on an already costly trip.
- Apply for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization, the US visa waiver for Australian passport holders) at least three months before departure. The process is online.
- Buy travel insurance with event cancellation cover when booking flights. Standard policies frequently exclude ticketed events.
- Confirm your phone supports eSIM and sort a USA data plan before boarding. Arriving at LAX without mobile data, after one of the longest long-haul routes out of Australia, is a grim start.
Two of these steps trip people up: the ESTA is required for every traveller on the booking, children included, and event cancellation cover is a specific add-on that most base policies don't include.
Reviewed by HelloRoam's editorial team. Last updated: 29 June 2026.
Get Connected Before You Go
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 Winter Olympics are hosted by Milan-Cortina, Italy, in February 2026. The 2028 Summer Olympics are hosted by Los Angeles, California, running 19 July to 4 August 2028.
The 2028 Summer Olympics are in Los Angeles, USA, from 19 July to 4 August 2028. The 2032 Summer Olympics will be in Brisbane, Australia, its first home Games since Sydney 2000.
Official LA28 pricing had not been released as of mid-2026. Paris 2024 benchmarks suggest group-stage events from around USD $50-300, with premium finals and opening ceremony seats exceeding USD $2,700.
Boxing has been removed from the LA28 Olympics by the IOC. Three sports replace it: flag football, cricket T20, and squash, chosen for their North American and global market appeal.
The LA28 Summer Olympics run from 19 July to 4 August 2028 in Los Angeles, California, with events at venues including SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Australian passport holders need an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) to enter the US. Apply online and allow at least 72 hours, though most approvals clear within minutes.
LAX is the only international gateway for Australian travellers attending LA28. Long Beach, Burbank, and Ontario airports handle domestic routes only and cannot be used for international arrivals.
Direct flights from Sydney to LAX take 13-14 hours; from Melbourne allow 15-16 hours. Perth travellers must connect through Sydney or Melbourne, pushing total travel time to over 20 hours each way.
Book in the late 2026 to mid-2027 window for economy return fares of roughly A$1,800-2,800. Waiting until 6-12 months before the Games pushes fares to A$2,500-4,500 or beyond.
Tickets are distributed via a ballot system, not standard checkout. Register for free at la28.org to gain priority access before the general public sale opens across 2027.
The official Olympics hospitality operator offers packages from around USD $3,000 per person, bundling tickets, hotel, and transfers. Premium tiers can exceed USD $10,000 per person.
Australian carrier roaming in the US typically costs A$10-15 per day, totalling A$140-210 over a two-week stay before any excess data fees apply.
A pre-loaded eSIM data plan offers the best value for trips of 5 or more days, replacing daily roaming fees with a single flat-rate charge valid across the full Games period on US 5G networks.
Major LA28 venues including SoFi Stadium carry strong 5G infrastructure on US networks, supporting digital ticketing, navigation apps, and rideshare booking under full crowd load.
Tethering and hotspot use are supported on most eSIM data plans for the US, allowing one device to share connectivity with others when moving between LA28 venues.
Use the LA Metro K Line from LAX to Inglewood and SoFi Stadium, and the Purple Line for Westwood venues. Load a TAP card via the app before leaving Australia to skip arrival queues at LAX.
Three sports join the LA28 program: flag football, cricket T20, and squash. Cricket making its Olympic debut in Los Angeles is the standout addition for Australian fans.
Sources
- la28.org — la28.org
- en.wikipedia.org — en.wikipedia.org (2028)
- 2028 OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC GAMES PLAN — la28.org
- LA28 Olympic Games — olympics.com (2028)
