outlines

After Paris sold a record 12 million tickets for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the group organizing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is getting a head start on ticket sales.

General registration for 2028 Olympic tickets will open in January 2026, more than a full year ahead of the ticket timeline used during the Paris Games, LA28 announced on Wednesday. Tickets to the Paralympics — coming to L.A. for the first time — will go on sale in 2027.

Beginning next year, fans can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets at the organizing committee’s website la28.org. If selected in the random draw, fans will receive a purchase time and date for when ticket drops begin in spring 2026. Fans who are not selected for the first round of ticket drops will be automatically be entered into subsequent ones. LA28 officials plan to announce more information about the process later this year.

Single-event tickets will start at $28, with early access for locals around Olympic venue cities. In addition to major sports zones in Downtown L.A., Exposition Park, the Sepulveda Basin, Long Beach, Inglewood and Carson will host multiple Olympic events. L.A., Long Beach and Carson will host the majority of the Paralympic events.

“The LA28 Games will be an opportunity to purchase a ticket to history,” LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “Whether you’re a local family attending your first Olympic or Paralympic event or a global traveler joining us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there really will be something for everyone across our suite of ticket options and hospitality packages.”

AXS and Eventim, which expanded their partnership with LA28, is the official ticket provider for the 2028 L.A. Olympics and Paralympics. Hospitality packages offered by On Location will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning in early 2026. The ticket-inclusive options include guaranteed accommodations, official LA28 transportation options and premium seating.

The Olympics begin on July 14, 2028, with a dual-venue opening ceremony at the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. They close on July 30 at the Coliseum, while the Paralympics come to L.A. for the first time from Aug. 15-27.

The Paris organizing committee, which sold 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics and 2.5 million for Paralympics, didn’t begin its ticket registration process until November 2022, with the first, bundled ticket sales beginning in February 2023. The total number of tickets sold broke the previous record held by the London Olympics, which still holds the Paralympic record with 2.7 million tickets sold.

HANOI — Although the war was hardly mentioned by either side, its presence hovered on the edges of almost every topic as U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Vietnam’s aging leadership met Friday to work toward closer economic and diplomatic relations.

There were the issues of Americans missing in action, and Vietnamese refugees and political prisoners. And there was the presence of Albright herself, on her first visit to Vietnam. Her black sedan with an American flag moving through the streets of what was once the enemy capital received no more notice than a commuter on the way to work.

“There are various things in life I never thought would happen,” she told American and Vietnamese workers at the U.S. Embassy, speaking of the implausibility of such a visit a generation ago. “This is one of them for sure.”

Albright brought with her a list of the steps Vietnam needs to take to achieve the closer economic ties that Hanoi wants with the United States. They include quickening the pace of economic reform, increasing cooperation on accounting for the 1,584 Americans still listed as missing since the war and bolstering respect for human rights.

To some observers, there was irony in the fact that the vanquished were attempting to set an agenda for the victors.

Vietnamese officials, State Department spokesmen said, were receptive to resolving the MIA issue but maintained that their record on human rights cannot be judged by U.S. standards.

“People in Vietnam are saying, ‘We’ve done everything the Americans have asked us to do in every area, and still they don’t give us the trade status we should enjoy as friends,’ ” Le Van Bang, Vietnam’s ambassador to the U.S., said in Washington last week.

Washington and Hanoi have been trying for months to work out a trade agreement that would lead to most-favored-nation status–which all but a few countries enjoy–for Vietnam. U.S. negotiators are seeking a reduction in trade barriers that now limit U.S. business and investment here in return for giving Vietnam more access to U.S. markets.

As a prerequisite for a new trading partnership, the United States wants Vietnam to speed up the processing of 16,000 cases involving Vietnamese who returned home from Asian refugee camps. Washington is considering the resettlement of some of them in the United States but cannot interview individuals until Vietnam has granted them exit permits. The Hanoi government has issued just 359 permits this year, though it had promised to process 1,500 refugees a month.

Albright also asked Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet to release three individuals among the estimated 60 political prisoners that Vietnam is said to be holding: Doan Viet Hoat, Nguyen Dan Que and the Buddhist leader Thich Quang Do.

In her discussions with Kiet and other officials, Albright said, she frequently raised the issues of religious, individual and press freedoms.

When her discussion with Kiet lasted longer than scheduled, she was asked at a news conference how much the war had figured into their talks.

“Interestingly enough,” she said, “there wasn’t a lot of discussion about the war. I very much got the sense . . . there was a great desire to look to the future rather than to the past.”

Significantly, Albright’s first stop in Hanoi was at the compound housing the task force trying to account for missing Americans.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Chase, the unit’s director, told the secretary he believes that Vietnam is making a “full faith” effort to resolve the issue. But he said the Americans need more access to documents and more cooperation in the field.

The recovery campaign costs the United States $10 million a year and is producing diminishing results as more and more service personnel are accounted for. The fate of all but 48 of the missing 1,584 Americans has been “determined,” Chase said, implying that they are believed to be dead.

In the past two years, 40 sets of remains have been identified. But none of the 95 “live sightings” of Americans since 1992 have produced positive results.

Albright’s trip, in pushing speeded-up economic and social reform, took on special significance because Vietnam’s Communist leadership–Kiet, 74; President Le Duc Anh, 76; and Communist Party General Secretary Do Muoi, 80–all intend to step down soon.

Some Western diplomats believe that Vietnam has appeared increasingly uncertain about how far and how fast it wants to move in liberalizing what 10 years ago was a rigid Communist structure. Thus, having a new generation of leadership would be considered particularly significant.

Just such an opportunity comes in Kobe on Saturday, as Wales look to level the series in their final game of the season.

Wales are aiming to ensure they do not go a full international campaign without a win after suffering nine defeats in 2024-25.

“At the moment we’re in this big losing streak but that one win will give them a bit of confidence to kick on,” said Jones.

“It’s the last week of the season, which is always tough, but there’s a carrot at the end of it.

“They’ve got five weeks off after this now, so they’ve put everything into this last game and hopefully we’ll get the result we want.”

While the players get five weeks off, Jones will be straight back to the day job at Harlequins on Monday morning after having had two stints with Wales during the Six Nations and summer tour.

Jones was brought into the Wales set-up by Warren Gatland, who then left his role after defeat against Italy in Rome in February, with Matt Sherratt taking over as interim head coach.

Jones was retained for the summer tour, with his Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson also brought in on a temporary basis to look after the forwards.

Despite all the trauma, with six defeats and no wins so far while he has been involved, Jones has no regrets about his international return, after playing his final game for Wales in 2014.

“I’ve loved it, it’s been brilliant,” said Jones.

“It’s been just over a decade since I last played for Wales and I loved representing my country.

“Playing for them for 11 years changed my life. The chance to represent them as a coach has been just as special.

“It’s been frustrating. It’s been pretty strange with Gats bringing me in where I had god knows how many questions over whether we get on anymore.

“Next thing he’s gone, so that was strange.

“I have enjoyed it but then I just get straight back into it with Harlequins on Monday and I might be a bit jet-lagged.”

Tired, maybe, but Jones will hope he has the memory of that long-awaited Wales win to give him a boost.

“For some, genocide is profitable.” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has issued a blistering report accusing major companies of profiting from Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian land.