Landing the hottest ticket in town — 30 years ago!

As the 2026 World Cup final kicked off today, I found myself reminiscing about another athletic event that kicked off on this date 30 years ago.

On July 19, 1996, my Olympic buddy Michelle Park and I had moved in to our home away from home in Atlanta and were cruising the downtown streets, visiting a few pubs before making our way to Centennial Olympic Stadium, home of the Opening Ceremony.

The first Coca Cola Pin of the Day honored the Opening Ceremony.
Photo: Marge Neal

We had tickets thanks to a happenstance stop at a welcome festival set up near the northern Georgia boarder. Michelle and I had made the trip from her place in Arlington in two legs with an overnight stop at a friend’s house in North Carolina.  We were on the second leg on July 18 and needed to stretch our legs when we saw the visitors event so we stopped. At one of the display booths, we struck up a conversation with two ladies and we mentioned that we were disappointed that we did not get opening or closing ceremony tickets in the ticket lottery. They told us there was an ad in the local paper that day for opening ceremony tickets and we sort of blew that off, knowing how overpriced third party tickets were. As it turns out, the ad was placed by a hotel that had invested in tickets to sell as part of a package deal, and they didn’t sell as well as they thought. They were selling them at face value rather than taking a total loss.

We called the hotel — from a pay phone!! — and they agreed to hold two tickets if we could get them within a couple hours. I forget the name of the town where the hotel was, but it was considerably out of our way. But that didn’t matter because it was a chance to be at the opening ceremony!

Michelle checking on the availability of Opening Ceremony tickets. 
Even the pay phone was provided by a brand sponsor!
Photo: Marge Neal

The tickets were $636 each and we didn’t bat the proverbial eyelash. We couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces for the rest of the drive to the home of a friend of a friend, where we were renting a room for the three weeks of the games.

The hottest ticket in town!
Photo: Marge Neal

On the morning of the 19th, we got up early and established a routine that would serve us well for the duration. After showering, we’d have coffee and something light for breakfast before heading downtown. All Atlanta public transportation was free if you could show an event ticket for that day. There was a bus stop down the street from where we were staying. We transferred from the bus to subway/light rail to get to the Olympic Plaza

We started each morning in the downtown square where the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center was set up. Since we knew we would be there from beginning to end, we decided to try to get the entire collection of Pins of the Day, issued by Coke. We stood in line each morning and managed to get the entire collection plus duplicates most days. Customers could get only one pin at a time, so duplicates meant standing in line again.

After an afternoon of absorbing the Olympic spirit, we headed to Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony. We may have had an adult beverage or two along the way. We made our way to our section, where we discovered green fabric portfolio bags on our seats, stuffed with an opening ceremony program booklet, a special opening pin and various items needed for audience participation stunts. It also included a small audio translator and earplug that translated announcements in a variety of languages. Each seat was also graced with a big sunflower stem.

We had a volunteer usher assigned to our section. Spectators were asked to get to their seats early because they held a dress rehearsal for us. Julie, our usher, went through each item in our bags and told us what to do with each. There was a portion of the ceremony where spectators waved fabric cloths that were the colors of the Olympic rings. My section waved yellow swatches.

It was an exciting time for this life-long Olympic fan — literally a dream come true to be at an opening ceremony! Celine Dion and Gladys Knight performed, a shaky Muhammad Ali brought the house down when he ignited the Olympic flame and then-President Bill Clinton officially opened the games.

I admit to crying more than a few times as my emotions caught up with me.

And we got lost going home that first night. But it was a great opening day/night of the trip that was five years in the planning.

Oh, and congratulations Spain!