VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM THE U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, GENE SYKES AND LOS ANGELES 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES CHIEF CASEY WASSERMAN RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: MILAN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 3, 2026) (IOC – See restrictions before use) 1. IOC SESSION IN PROGRESS / U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, GENE SYKES, SAYING (English): "So, let me address the visa question and thank you very much for all the questions on visas." 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, GENE SYKES, SAYING: "We've worked very closely with the State Department on the design of a visa system that would allow athletes in any part of their preparation for the Games to have access through a visa system that was designed specifically for them. This is, I think you've heard the concept of the exemption for athletes, and that's part of it. But the Visalink system and the idea that athletes, their entourage would have access to a special access point and people who can help them is something we've spent a great deal of time on." 3. WHITE FLASH 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, GENE SYKES, SAYING: "With regard to the tickets and access, equal access, if you will, for spectators and people who would be supporters of teams from various countries, remember that the FIFA World Cup will also be happening this summer. And so this entire process of welcoming visitors from other countries to the United States for sporting events is getting something of a trial run on a smaller basis, but with still a very extensive worldwide experience. It gives us the opportunity to see how do we optimise this, how do we make it work as well as we possibly can so that we can apply those lessons to the Olympic Games when we have the 2028 Games." 5. IOC SESSION IN PROGRESS / LOS ANGELES 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES CHIEF, CASEY WASSERMAN ON LARGE SCREEN 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES CHIEF, CASEY WASSERMAN, SAYING: "Ticket cost, again, when you privately pay for a Games, we've only got fundamentally two revenue streams: sponsorships and ticketing. And so our ticket prices, on average, are 17% higher than Paris. To be fair, the economic opportunity and the four-year difference could have allowed us to go a lot higher than that. We have a million tickets at $28, and two-thirds of our tickets are under $200. So I understand that some of the tickets are expensive. We're happy to have conversations about what tickets the federations and the NOCs can buy, but our ticketing was based on that presumption that we have to deliver on our revenue to pay for the Games." 7. IOC SESSION IN PROGRESS STORY: 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 (February 3). 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 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 travel 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. 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 maximize 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. (Production: Tim Hart)
(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
