The Sports Fan Project

My alarm was set for the unimaginable time of 3:45 a.m. last Friday.

It wasn’t to catch a flight or to rush out to my local Detroit-area bakery to get in line for fresh-baked paczki (the Polish pastry associated with Fat Tuesday) or even to get an early work out in (as much as my physician might appreciate that).

No, the alarm was set because I was notified two days prior that my 48-hour window to purchase tickets to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, opened at 10 a.m. Central European Time. Which, I quickly discovered, was 4 a.m. in my neck of the woods.

So there I was without my morning coffee, tending to the dog’s early-morning needs, and firing up my laptop preparing to secure what I could for the trip which will be part of my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project.

Things started smoothly as I was placed in the queue and, moments later, was admitted into the room to purchase tickets.

I’ve begun to learn, having played the ticket game quite a bit the past several months, that each platform is a bit different. This one was especially so.

As I reflect on the overall experience, my chief regret was not taking a moment to study the main page as I entered the room. Rather, I began scrolling – by date – to find the events I wanted to purchase tickets for. Had I taken a moment to review the home page, I would have noticed I could have done searches by sport and not had to scroll as much as I did.

I persevered, however, and was successful in securing four tickets to six events (the maximum per person during this window was 25 total tickets). Then came the check out process which seemed to require including each ticketholders name for each ticket. Suddenly, as I was typing in the final five names my half hour shopping limit expired and my cart was emptied … #*&%!!!

I logged back in and utilizing lessons from my practice session, was more efficient in navigating the system. Unfortunately, the first three events I attempted to purchase were now sold out so I needed to recalibrate my strategy.

Looking over the schedule of the Games – which will be the most geographically spread out in Olympic history – I endeavored to cobble together something that captured as many of our preferred events as possible while also allowing for travel time and down time (which I’m also told is important for first-time Olympic attendees).

This is what I walked away with shortly after 11 a.m. CET Friday.

• February 7 – Men’s Singles Luge, Heats 1 & 2 in Cortina
• February 9 – Mixed Doubles Curling Semifinals in Cortina
• February 11 – Ice Dancing Free Dance in Milan
• February 12 – Men’s Ice Hockey Pool Play in Milan
• February 14 – Short Track Speed Skaing in Milan
• February 16 – Women’s Ice Hockey Semifinal in Milan

Might there be another event added should the secondary ticket market provide some opportunities? I’d think so, but for a first Games this seems a robust schedule and one that hits on some of the traditional and not-so-traditional winter sports.