Future Salt Lake Olympics Bigger Than Ever, Bid Group Says

A potential future Olympics would be 40 percent bigger than the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and 60 percent larger than the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games, the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games told a state government committee on Thursday.

Per the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Act passed earlier this year by the Utah state legislature, the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee will help review and advise the Legislature on issues related to the state’s potential hosting of a future Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The SLC bid group’s presentation Thursday reinforced its stance on a future Games, with planning for both 2030 and 2034 but with a preference for 2034.

“We are willing to host either Games, whichever is in the best interest of the Olympic and Paralympic movement and Utah,” SLC-Utah Committee for the Games Chief Executive Officer Fraser Bullock said, adding later “we’ll know a lot this fall” as to what the IOC’s future plans will be.

Thursday’s presentation included facts and figures about a potential future Games. The 2030 economic impact projection has a $3.9 billion economic output while reducing Utah’s CO2 emissions by 50 percent. Key revenue sources would be IOC revenues through media rights and worldwide sponsorships; ticket sales and hospitality, which would be the biggest single source of revenue for a future Games; and domestic sponsorships. Any potential surplus from a future Games would permanently endow winter sports through the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, which was set up with the surplus from the 2002 Games.

The two main public bidders have been Salt Lake City and Stockholm although IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi in March said the organization continues to draw interest, while refusing to say from which regions the interest is being registered. Following a four-month feasibility study, Swedish sports officials said Thursday there is a desire for the Nordic country to stage the Olympics in Stockholm.

Stockholm’s bid would use Are, a ski resort more than 300 miles away, and the bobsled, luge and skeleton track in Latvia. The feasibility study released did not include any financial details such as a budget. It will be the ninth Winter Olympic bid for the country that hosted the Summer Olympics in 1912.

“Our preliminary study shows that Sweden has the opportunity, know-how and will to arrange the Winter Games in 2030,” Swedish Olympic Committee president Hans von Uthmann said, adding it will enter into ongoing dialogue with the IOC.

The IOC executive board will meet from Tuesday to Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland although the Winter Games is not expected to be on the agenda. Sweden’s entry into the 2030 race is what the IOC has wanted since it announced in December 2022 it would postpone choosing a 2030 Winter Games host and potentially do a double awarding for both 2030 and 2034 when the IOC meets before the start of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. With the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, the IOC has been wary of having the U.S. host back-to-back Games, making Sweden’s candidacy attractive to the IOC.

The original front-runner for 2030, Sapporo, will reportedly regroup with an eye toward competing with Salt Lake City for the right to host in 2034. Kyodo News reported this week the Japanese Olympic Committee will move forward with a 2034 bid after its 2030 bid was dropped as public support weakened in the wake of a widening corruption scandal surrounding the organization of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

The official IOC Session in Mumbai is where most observers believe the organization would advance one or more bidders into targeted dialogue ahead of a potential dual award for both 2030 and 2034 at the 2024 IOC Session scheduled for July 23–24 in Paris ahead of the Summer Games. The October meetings are also when the IOC is scheduled to discuss climate change and its impact on future Winter Games including a potential future host rotation.