SLC inching closer to 2034 Olympic bid
Oct 16, 2023, 8:00 PM
The Olympic circles are seen as Isabella Marcheschi, 12, skates at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on June 16, 2023. (Ryan Sun/Deseret News)
(Ryan Sun/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — There is a high chance that Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Olympics. How do we know that? Currently, Salt Lake City has no competition for the 2034 Olympic bid.
Current President and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games Fraser Bullock tells KSL NewsRadio that it’s been an exciting weekend.
He said the committee asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to do a duel award. Meaning, it would announce the hosts of the 2030 games and 2034 games at the same time.
“And what they said over the weekend, is they gave a green light to a process for the potential of a duel award if conditions are met,” Bullock said. “It doesn’t mean for sure that it’s gonna happen. But, it means that we have a path forward for it to happen. And, I would say that it’s more likely than not that it will happen next year.”
Bullock said Salt Lake City could get a “very big signal” if the IOC invites it to targeted dialogue in November. If this happens, the IOC will talk with the Salt Lake City committee and review its bid for 2034.
“That’s a big step forward and that is pretty close to getting real about receiving an award,” he said.
Is the 2034 Olympic bid worth it? Are the games too far out?
With 2034 just under a decade away, will Salt Lake City’s current Olympic venues and infrastructure lose value? Bullock said no.
The only problem he has with the games being hosted in 2034, as opposed to 2030, is that he’ll be four years older. He believes it’s actually beneficial to push the games to 2034.
“In our budget, we have somewhere around $800 million of sponsorship revenue for [the] 2030 games, and being able to put that together when we would just be 18 months removed from a games in L.A., that’s hard to do,” Bullock said. “So, we could make it work for [20]30. It would be tougher. It would be riskier. But, we’d still make it happen.”
However, hosting the games in 2034 would be easier and make for a strong economic games, according to Bullock.
“Having 10 years of a runway, once you have a games, you’ve got a games,” Bullock said. “We can start building initiatives around the games. Whether it’s teaching our kids the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Whether it’s work(ing) around sustainability. All of these things that go into a games, beyond just hosting sport, but elevating and unifying our communities, having 10 years to do that is kind of an exciting prospect.”
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