PARIS -- France first, then the U.S. The IOC returned to a proven path to ensure the future of the Winter Olympics. Now, it’s Salt Lake City that will benefit, with the Games set to return to Utah.
The IOC’s executive board today approved a recommendation of its future host commission to move Salt Lake into targeted dialogue for 2034 and a bid from the French Alps ahead for 2030. The decision kicks off months of work for each to finalize their bid file, secure guarantees and host a visit. The IOC expects to vote on hosts for 2030 and 2034 at its session before the Olympics open here in July.
“What has been submitted and the demonstration of support is outstanding,” said Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Olympic Games Exec Dir. “They have brought all the guarantees needed already at this point in time. It is extremely strong. In Salt Lake City, we’ve had a partner for three years now, and they’ve been incredibly patient, incredibly thorough and were able to rally everyone behind what is a superb project.”
The IOC expects to finalize its future host reports in May and present them to the executive board in June. While returning the Games to Salt Lake City isn’t a done deal until the IOC’s July vote, it’s a strong indicator of the likely outcome -- the Winter Olympics will return to the U.S. for the first time since Salt Lake City hosted in 2002.
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It was met with celebrations in Utah. Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games officials joined Mayor Erin Mendenhall for a watch party. Following the committee’s board meeting on Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox will join Salt Lake and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials for a cauldron lighting. Utah medalists from 2002 through 2022 will join the celebration, as well as prospective 2034 athletes.
“I feel pure elation for the people of Utah to be able to experience the Games again, assuming we get the award,” said Fraser Bullock, President and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. “But it also feels very satisfying from all the work we’ve done and the partnership we’ve had with the IOC to be rewarded to move into targeted dialogue.”
The IOC’s decision to advance the Salt Lake bid is the continuance of an effort to bring the Games back to Utah for more than a decade. Committee members have been trying to get the Olympics back for so long that they were targeting the 2022 edition when they started.
Working in their favor is a wealth of venues that have been maintained since it last hosted the Olympics, with it regularly hosting international events. Skiing, biathlon and speedskating are among those hosting events there this season, and Park City has one of only 16 sliding tracks in the world.
Karl Stoss, chair of the IOC’s future host commission, highlighted that history as part of the strengths of the bid, along with Salt Lake’s legacy from 2002, compact master plan and public and government support.
The IOC decided to move a national bid from Switzerland into a privileged dialogue for 2038, giving organizers the opportunity to organize plans and shore up government and public support, including potentially through a referendum. The country has historically struggled to get public support, with a 2026 bid by Sion failing in a vote in its canton, but has proposed a national bid.
Sweden, meanwhile, has now bid nine times for the Winter Olympics, which it has not hosted. Stoss said the bid needed more support, including from the government, and that revenue projections from domestic sponsorship and ticketing were on the high side.
“Sweden should be encouraged to continue,” he said.
Faltering other bids opened the door for France to secure a Summer and Winter Olympics within the same decade.
A year ago, the IOC opted to delay a decision on the 2030 Games after bids from Vancouver and Sapporo faced headwinds. France’s national Olympic committee pursued a dialogue with the IOC following that decision, although its ambitions were not publicly known until this summer.
Dubi said the close proximity to next year’s Summer Games in Paris give French officials and the IOC an opportunity to take advantage of operational capabilities and commercial interest.
“We have a lot of building blocks from Paris that can be reused as well,” Dubi said, “and this is for sure an advantage when you have five and a half years to organize the Games.”
Those commercial implications are to be sorted out in the coming months by Salt Lake officials, as well. Los Angeles and the USOPC currently have a joint venture, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, to sell domestically through the 2028 Games.
When a Salt Lake City effort to take over commercial sales would begin, and what the USOPC would do in between, has yet to be sorted out. Bullock said that will be part of the discussion in the coming months.
In other respects, the bid file is nearly complete, he said, with thousands of pages of contracts, guarantees and vision statements of what they would deliver.
“It’s all ready,” he said. “We feel very confident.”
After the IOC’s decision Wednesday, he should.
