Oklahoma City is hosting canoe slalom and softball at the LA28 summer games. And many Oklahomans have begun the process to get tickets.
Michael Byrnes is the president of Team OKC, the organization planning the city’s Olympic festivities. He said his LA counterparts showed him a map of where people have registered for the first round of the ticket lottery.
“I don't know for a fact it's every county, but boy, that heat map makes it look like most counties, there's somebody that's saying they're interested in the games,” he said. “I've been really pleased with the response so far.”
The ticket draw has more than 5 million registrants around the globe. And the OKC metro has been one of the top five cities in the U.S. from which people have signed up.
Today, March 18, is the last day to join those jockeying for a chance to buy Olympics tickets. Technically, the deadline is 1:59 a.m. tomorrow, Oklahoma time.
The lottery isn’t for tickets; it’s for a time slot during which tickets could be purchased. Registrants will be assigned to those at random. Those who don’t receive a slot can register for future ticket draws.
Locals who live in Cleveland, Canadian or Oklahoma Counties are eligible to be assigned presale spots. Those are the first week of April, and the rest of the slots start a week later.
Byrnes said ticket prices haven’t been released yet, although the LA28 website says they’ll start at $28. Byrnes said qualifying rounds will be priced differently from finals, where medals will be presented.
Meanwhile, Team OKC is working on venue and infrastructure plans for the games. Byrnes said representatives from LA28 will visit next week to meet with an architect and review details of the venues. EMBARK, Oklahoma City’s public transportation authority, is looking for contractors to plan for the games. And Byrnes said details about OKC’s Olympics Village are forthcoming.
“I'm optimistic in the next, I don't know, 60 to 90 days that we'll be able to make an announcement around where they're going to be,” he said. “That’ll be exciting.”
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
