USOC representatives on Friday "broke ground" on a $75M Olympic Museum project "planned for downtown Colorado Springs," according to Rich Laden of the Colorado Springs GAZETTE. As envisioned, the 60,000-square-foot museum will "honor the nation's Olympic and Paralympic movement, athletes and ideals through interactive displays and exhibits." It will "include a Hall of Fame, theater, retail space, cafe and outdoor plaza." It is "expected to draw about 350,000 visitors a year." It will "cement ties between the Olympic movement and the city, which is home to the USOC's headquarters, an Olympic Training Center and two dozen Olympic national governing bodies and last year adopted 'Olympic City USA' as its brand." About 500 people -- including local and state elected officials, business people, developers, civic leaders and Olympic athletes -- "attended Friday's event." The museum is "expected to open" in summer or fall '19. Private contributions are "paying about two-thirds of the museum's price tag; the remainder is being funded by a bank loan, which will be paid off with state sales-tax revenue made available through Colorado's Regional Tourism Act" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/10). The AP's Eddie Pells noted this will be the "first full-fledged Olympic museum" in the U.S. Lake Placid has a "small museum that commemorates the two Winter Games" staged in N.Y. There are "more than 20 Olympic museums around the world, but previous attempts to establish one in the U.S. floundered over the decades" (AP, 6/9).
FIRST IN THE U.S.: In Colorado Springs, David Ramsey noted on the second floor of the USOC HQ in downtown, there is a "large collection of Olympic memorabilia: photos, medals, equipment, uniforms." The USOC will "lend the collection to the museum, which is only a few blocks away" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/10). Also in Colorado Springs, Woody Paige wrote the 350,000 visitor estimate is "extremely high." With an "intelligent approach and creative thinking and planning, the 'Olympic City USA' theme for the Springs can be a success." There "should be an annual week-long Colorado Springs Winter Carnival in SoDo with ice carvings, rinks and an outdoor hockey match" between Colorado College and the Univ. of Denver. And the occasion would have "special emphasis during the Winter Olympics for a fortnight every four years, with gigantic outdoor TV screens showing the Games" from Tokyo in '20 and Beijing in '22. The same sort of Summer Festival would "commemorate the Summer Games, with competitions, including a marathon around downtown" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 6/11).
