SLC-Utah 2034 Organizing Committee Ramps Up

The United States tied for the most gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris and easily won the overall medals table. At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, the U.S. tied for third for the most golds and fifth in the overall medals table.

Those types of performances in the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Italy in less than a year’s time will be helpful for the organizers of the 2034 Games that will be in Salt Lake City.

“One of the things that came out of Paris was given the great success of their Games, the whole movement became energized,” Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 President Fraser Bullock said. “Every successful Games helps us. And so we are cheering on Milan Cortina to have fabulous Games. That’s one part of our cheering.

“The second part is, we’re also cheering Team USA because we want that support too. We want to have very successful podium results for Team USA in our Games. That’s a key part of our success and so we’ll be following that with deep interest.”

Bullock and Board Vice Chair Steve Starks spoke after the SLC-Utah 2034’s steering committee meeting on Monday. The six-member Executive Committee will be led by Bullock as chair and Starks as vice chair and also include USOPC Chief Executive Officer Sarah Hirshland, USOPC Board Chair Gene Sykes and two athletes, Lindsey Vonn and Chris Kinney.

Starks noted that during the steering committee meeting, 2002 Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety said that a Utahn has won a medal at every Winter Olympics since those Games.

“Obviously that inspires young athletes, combined with the venues that Fraser has talked about, to build on that legacy of competition,” Starks said. “And Utah has become a real state of sport. The 2002 Games were a huge catalyst for that and it’s only continued and that’s exciting to think about future generations that have the opportunity to be inspired by these athletes.”

Eight committees were introduced covering Ethics, Finance, Host Communities, Impact & Legacy, Nominating & Governance, People & Compensation, Sport & Venue and State of Sport, which will be chaired by Jeff Robbins of the Utah Sports Commission.

Visas Mentioned as Issue

During the steering committee meeting, USOPC Chief Executive Officer Sarah Hirshland said she and USOPC President Gene Sykes spent last month in Washington, D.C., with entrance into the United States for the 2028 and 2034 Games in the United States among the agenda items with the State Department and White House.

“They are very excited for what’s to come over this next decade for the country,” Hirshland said. “They understand the importance of it. They understand some of the challenges, particularly immigration, visas, access for athletes and individuals – certainly always a big concern for the international community … the Administration has been incredibly supportive and said all the rights thing, given us all the right assurances, to say ‘we want to be a great host country and we’re going to set up everything to ensure that we do that,’ and they’re working incredibly closely with us to do that.”

Private Donation Goal Updated

The organizing committee has offices in downtown Salt Lake City and a total of $28 million expected to be spent in the first three years in which the OCOG will transition from a bid group to an organizing committee.

The group is funded by private donations since it does not have national marketing rights until after the 2028 Games in Los Angeles have finished. Organizers are targeting $300 million in private donations between now and 2034; Starks said the committee was not ready to announce how much has been raised to date “but we’re off to a good start.”

“We’ve seen that there are many, many foundations and institutions that want to support these Games,” Starks said. “They see the value in it. They see that it does unite people across the globe and it gives Utah a chance to welcome the world here once more.”