Olympics
IOC members concerned over LA 2028 Games entry visas, increased ticket prices
- Summary
- *IOC members raise concerns over LA 2028 visa process
- *LA 2028 ticket prices 17% higher than Paris 2024
- *LA Games lack federal funding, rely on sponsorships and tickets
The issues of entry visas and inflated ticket prices for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics dominated a progress report delivered by the American organisers to the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday.
Several IOC members, including International Equestrian Federation chief Ingmar De Vos, raised the issue of entry visas for hundreds of thousands of athletes, their families, officials, media and fans to the U.S., asking LA Games organisers whether the process could be simplified.
Dagmawit Girmay Berhane, an IOC member from Ethiopia, said organisers should make sure that Olympic qualifying tournaments, held in the United States over the next two years, also allowed access to all eligible athletes.
“We have worked very closely with the (U.S.) State Department to design a visa system to allow athletes… to have access to a visa system designed especially for them,” Gene Sykes, chairman of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said.
He added that there was ongoing close cooperation with U.S. authorities to make the process as easy as possible.
This is not the first time IOC members raised visa issues with the Games organisers, with the White House having already set up a task force to handle visas.
Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump banned citizens of several countries from travelling to the U.S.
Olympic Games can attract hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the world for the 16-day event, with more than 200 countries taking part and over 10,500 athletes competing.
Sykes said this year’s soccer World Cup would act as a trial run for visas, albeit on a smaller scale, with only 48 nations taking part in that tournament.
“The FIFA World Cup will also be happening this summer so this entire process of welcoming visitors to the United States… is getting something of a trial run,” Sykes said.
TICKET PRICES
IOC members also highlighted LA Games ticket prices, saying they were considerably more expensive than those for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“When you privately pay for the Games, we have only two revenue streams: sponsorships and tickets. Our ticket prices on average are 17% higher than Paris,” LA Games chief Casey Wasserman told the IOC session.
“To be fair the economic opportunity and the four-year difference (from Paris) could have allowed us to go a lot higher than that. So I understand some of the tickets are expensive,” Wasserman said.
The LA Games financial model does not have any federal contribution, unlike most Olympics held in other countries, meaning organisers must maximise revenues.
Wasserman, who apologised last week for communicating with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, after the publication of a series of personal emails between the two, was spared any questions on that issue.
New files related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s former boyfriend, published by the U.S. Justice Department on Friday, included flirtatious email exchanges between Wasserman, who was married at the time, and Maxwell dating from 2003.
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Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on Tuesday named six stadiums across the United States set to host matches in the men’s and women’s Olympic soccer tournaments, expanding the competition footprint well beyond Southern California.
LA28 said group stage and knockout games will be played in New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose and San Diego.
Venues range from an under-construction New York City Football Club stadium due to be completed in 2027 to established Major League Soccer grounds in Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and Northern California.
Final-stage matches, including the men’s and women’s gold medal games, have already been confirmed for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The men’s final is scheduled for July 28, 2028, followed by the women’s final on July 29, 2028, organisers said.
LA28 said it designed the tournament schedule to stage matches concurrently from the East Coast to the West Coast in an effort to limit travel and support athlete welfare while offering fans a more geographically inclusive Games experience.
The organisers also highlighted a milestone in Olympic football, saying that for the first time more women’s teams (16) than men’s teams (12) will compete.
LA28 said it aims to set a benchmark for the first Olympics in which all team sports will feature at least as many women’s teams as men’s.
A full match schedule for both tournaments, including dates and locations for every game, will be announced before tickets go on sale in April, LA28 said.
-Reuters
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel will help protect U.S. delegations at next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy, causing a political uproar in the country.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism over their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after they shot and killed two U.S. citizens in separate incidents this month in Minnesota.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division will back up the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service at the February 6-22 Milano Cortina Olympics, the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X.
The ICE agents’ role will be “to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations,” the post added, noting “all security operations remain under Italian authority.”
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
HISTORY OF ICE DEPLOYMENTS
ICE has been present at major sports events in both the U.S. and abroad in the past, including previous Olympic Games, as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking, said Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff under former President Joe Biden.
Despite assurances that there is nothing unusual about the deployment, Italian politicians strongly criticised the presence of ICE agents in the country, highlighting how the image of the United States has been tarnished in recent months.
“It seems sheer idiocy to me,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist party in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition, told la Repubblica daily.
Giuseppe Sala, the left-leaning mayor of Milan, one of the cities co-hosting the Olympics, called ICE “a militia that kills”. Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Sala said: “It’s clear that they’re not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it.”
The Rome government sought to defuse the protests. The interior ministry said in a statement that ICE personnel would only work in U.S. diplomatic offices such as the Milan consulate, and “not on the ground” enforcing order.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he met with U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta. Piantedosi said he would address parliament on February 4. The U.S. embassy in Italy declined to comment.
‘IT’S NOT AS IF THE SS ARE ARRIVING’, MINISTER SAYS
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for a measured response. “We’re not talking about the (ICE people) who were out on the streets of Minneapolis… It’s not as if the (Nazi) SS are arriving,” he told reporters at a Holocaust memorial event.
A State Department spokesperson said that, as in past Olympics, multiple federal agencies would help with security, including ICE.
But Italia Viva, a centrist Italian opposition party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said agents affiliated with ICE did not represent Italian values and should be barred from entry.
The hard-left USB trade union said it would hold an “ICE OUT” rally in central Milan on February 6, to coincide with the Olympic opening ceremony.
-Reuters
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Seven-time Olympian Olufunke Oshonaike has entered the history books as the first Nigerian to be appointed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission.
Her nomination, approved by IOC President Kirsty Coventry, was announced on Thursday, December 4, marking a major milestone for Nigerian and African sport.
Oshonaike, one of Africa’s most accomplished table tennis stars, joins four other newly appointed members as the IOC moves to complete the Commission’s composition ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The new members include Soraya Aghaei Haji Agha (Iran, badminton), Husein Alireza (Saudi Arabia, rowing), Cheick Sallah Cissé (Côte d’Ivoire, taekwondo), Mariana Pajón (Colombia, cycling), and Oshonaike herself. Their appointments were made in consultation with IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Emma Terho.
“The Athletes’ Commission is essential in making sure athletes remain at the heart of everything we do,” IOC President Coventry said. “I am deeply grateful to our new members for their commitment and the wealth of experience they bring in service to athletes worldwide.”
Oshonaike, who has competed in every Olympic Games from Atlanta 1996 to Tokyo 2020, currently serves on both the Nigeria National Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission and the Nigeria Table Tennis Athletes’ Commission. Her selection further cements her reputation as one of Nigeria’s greatest sporting ambassadors.
Her fellow African inductee, Cheick Sallah Cissé of Côte d’Ivoire, won Olympic gold in taekwondo at Rio 2016 and is co-chair of the World Taekwondo Athletes’ Commission.
With the latest appointments, the IOC Athletes’ Commission now stands at 23 members, comprising representatives from all continents, including one from the Refugee Olympic Team. The body features 13 women and 10 men, spanning 15 summer sports and five winter sports.
Welcoming the new members, Chair Emma Terho said their “diverse backgrounds, achievements, and experience will enrich our discussions and help us continue to advocate for athletes worldwide.”
Expressing her joy, Oshonaike said the appointment was a culmination of years of dedication and advocacy.
“I am so excited because during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games campaign, I was impressed by the huge support from my country and athletes across the world. This appointment confirms that my efforts did not go unnoticed. It has been my dream to impact the sport that has given me the rare opportunity to live well in life,” she said.
The IOC Athletes’ Commission plays a central role in ensuring that athletes’ voices shape decision-making across the Olympic Movement. The Commission is made up of 12 members elected by athletes during the Olympic Games and up to 11 members appointed by the IOC President to maintain balanced representation across gender, geography, and sporting disciplines.
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