Category News

At least one million tickets for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be priced at $28 (£20.94).

Organisers confirmed the pricing as they announced that fans will be able to register their interest from next month in attending the Games.

From 14 January, fans can enter a random ticket draw covering all Olympic sports and those who are selected will be given a time slot to purchase tickets in April.

The announcement by LA28 organisers comes amid criticism of ticket prices for next year’s football World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Group-stage tickets for the 2026 World Cup will be up to three times the prices of those for the previous tournament in Qatar in 2022, while the cheapest ticket for the final will cost £3,119.

Every sport at the 2028 Olympic Games will have tickets available at $28, while a third of tickets for the event will be “under $100”.

“That’s not just lip service to a couple tickets in the corner of some venue, but a meaningful number of tickets,” said LA28 chief Allison Katz-Mayfield.

“We’re looking at at least a million tickets at $28.”

Tickets for the 2024 Olympics in Paris started at 24 euros (£20).

The cheapest ticket for England’s opening World Cup match against Croatia next June is priced at £198, with Scotland’s opener against Haiti costing £134.

Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe has said it is “astonished” by Fifa’s pricing strategy, and called for ticket sales to be “halted immediately”.

Fifa told BBC Sport last Friday that it had received five million World Cup ticket requests in 24 hours from fans across more than 200 countries.

Katz-Mayfield called LA28’s random draw process “the fairest way to ensure that the broadest number of people can get access to tickets and that no one is advantaged or disadvantaged.”

“No matter when you go in, whether you’re the first person in or the last person in, you have the same opportunity,” she added.

Registration for tickets for the 2029 Olympics will be open until 18 March and there is no advantage to registering early.

American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey will perform at the opening ceremony of next year’s Winter Olympics.

The five-time Grammy award-winner will be one of the “leading performers” for the event at Milan’s San Siro stadium – the home of football clubs Inter and AC Milan – on Friday, 6 February.

The Games in Milan and Cortina run from 6-22 February.

Athletes will be able to participate in the ceremony from other venues in Milan, Cortina, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme.

Carey, 56, has headlined major sporting events in the past, having sung the USA’s national anthem before the NFL’s Super Bowl in 2002 and at the NBA All-Star game in 2003, and performed her own song at the 2020 US Open women’s tennis final.

It was the news Welsh rugby had feared.

And, sadly, expected.

The confirmation of Lions flanker Jac Morgan and fellow Wales captain Dewi Lake leaving the Ospreys for Gloucester is another blow for the game in Wales that has taken a battering of late.

Even amid Welsh rugby’s renown tribalism, this news will not have been celebrated by regional rivals.

Some see the departures as symptomatic of the apparent ill-health of the game in Wales.

Indeed, Ospreys head coach Mark Jones cited the current uncertainty around the future as a factor in the pair’s departure.

Former Ospreys head coach Sean Holley has called the news “devastating” and “another sad day” for Welsh rugby.

On the one hand, it’s a tale well told.

A player approaches the end of a contract, and turns it down to accept one elsewhere.

Money has always been on offer for those willing to travel. France was a popular destination for many of the Warren Gatland-era stars. Premiership Rugby called to George North, Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams and Dan Biggar.

Cast your mind back further and it was Rugby League that was the temptation.

“Yes, there’s a history of players going elsewhere to get new experiences but there’s different reasons this time,” former Dragons wing and players’ union chair Ashton Hewitt told the Scrum V podcast.

Namely the uncertainty created with professional clubs in Wales set to be reduced to three by 2027.

Because of the implications.

With the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) stating its new set up will have one club in Cardiff, one in the east of Wales and one in the west, a scrap for survival between the Scarlets in Llanelli and the Swansea-based Ospreys is expected.

Add into the mix that WRU chair Richard Collier Keywood would not comment on questions over the Ospreys owners – Y11 Sport & Media – showing interest in taking over the WRU-owned Cardiff, the future of the Ospreys has been particularly in focus.

Holley questions whether Morgan and Lake based decisions on information the wider public wasn’t privy to.

That is not known, but the Ospreys were known to have made competitive offers for them to stay and both players were seen as two who would be keen to remain close to home.

“I’m worried,” added Hewitt. “Is this like the nail in the coffin of the Ospreys in terms of which region is to go? But this will affect every region with people thinking about leaving.

“I think there will be more players going then we’ve seen at any one time than in the past.

“Until there’s a level of clarity and certainty in Wales you can’t blame them.”

Supporters do not appear to be blaming the players, with uncertainty seeping into the stands.

As well as the usual tributes for Lake – an academy graduate – and Morgan, who has established himself as a world class talent while at the Swansea-based region, there was a spelling out of the harsh realities.

Jones insisted the club did “their upmost” to keep the pair, but, crucially added: “Unfortunately, these matters are sometimes taken out of your hands, especially under the current circumstances in Welsh rugby.”

The fact a governing body felt the need to issue a statement about two players moving clubs suggests they are aware of how this has been perceived.

The Union expressed its disappointment before going on to stress that avoiding such a scenario is why they need to make the plans they have proposed.

“We are at the beginning of that journey and are working with all of the professional clubs to put that new system in place as quickly as possible,” it read.

“As we work to create a truly world class rugby environment in Wales in the next years, we hope that players like Jac and Dewi – and others – will come back to Wales.”

The WRU’s statement also pointed out they have guaranteed existing player contracts and offered financial support for new signings during this period.

This is said to have included an offer of central contracts for some players.

The new proposals for Welsh rugby would involve central contracts across the three remaining clubs once the three-club plans take hold.

But it appears they are on the table now as a way of enticing players to stay in the meantime.

Not so long ago, anyone playing their club rugby outside of Wales who did not have 60 caps could not play for the country.

As post-Covid finances hit the game, that was dropped to 25 in February 2023.

But as the lure of Test rugby struggles against the realities of earning a career, there are also caveats.

For example, if a reasonable offer has not been made to keep the player in Wales, it can be waived.

And Lions caps count too – meaning Morgan (24 for Wales and two for the Lions) will remain eligible once he heads to Kingsholm, as will 26-cap Lake.

No-one knows for sure, but the predictions are that Morgan and Lake will not be the first if the offers from elsewhere are on the table.

There are an estimated 80 players out of contract across the four regions at the end of the season.

Ospreys and Wales fly-half Dan Edwards – who would not qualify under the 25-cap rule – has been linked with Leicester, while Test stars Aaron Wainwright and Josh Adams are among those who are said to have been the subject of interest from English clubs.

One crumb of comfort may be that Prem sides are limited by the number of non-English qualified players they can have in their matchday squads.

Analysis – Gareth Rhys Owen, Scrum V commentator

There is nothing new about elite Welsh players leaving at the peak of their powers.

Jonathan Davies was 25 when he moved to Clermont, James Hook the same age when he joined Perpignan and Dan Lydiate 25 when he left for Racing.

Morgan, now 25, and Lake, 26, fit that same pattern. The best Welsh players, once they reach their prime, will often look beyond Wales.

In that sense, their decision to move on is neither surprising nor unprecedented – even if Gloucester are not a European superpower or the rugby equivalent of a ‘galactico’ destination.

What makes these departures different is the context in which they are happening.

The WRU is openly considering cutting a region and it is no secret that the Ospreys are among those facing an uncertain future.

In that climate, no player – particularly those at the top of the game – would be blamed for securing their future elsewhere. That acceptance is the key point.