USOC acting CEO Susanne Lyons has informed the IOC that three American cities are interested in hosting the '30 Winter Games, according to a letter seen by THE DAILY. The letter, dated March 9, makes no mention of '26. The IOC’s deadline for declaring a bid for the '26 Games is March 31, though it is possible the IOC will consider awarding both the '26 and '30 Games simultaneously, so the USOC is declaring an interest in being part of those discussions if they occur. The interested cities are Salt Lake City, Denver and Reno/Tahoe, though Lyons’ letter did not mention them by name. USOC Chief External Affairs Officer Patrick Sandusky confirmed the committee remains interested in '30 (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).
ONE STEP CLOSER: In Salt Lake City, Mike Gorrell notes the city's "ambitions to stage another Olympics cleared one hurdle" yesterday. Utah Olympic Exploratory Committee co-Chair FrasER Bullock contended that the USOC approach is "consistent with the strategy laid out in the committee’s report in February that endorsed a bid" for the '30 Games -- with the offer that Salt Lake City could be ready in '26 if called upon. Bullock said that the USOC has "not defined a process for selecting a candidate city, but he expects that to be revealed in the next few weeks." Bullock and other Utah bid leaders "don’t believe Colorado can produce top-flight Olympic facilities for anywhere close to the cost of what Salt Lake City has available." A state audit suggested it would cost about $50M to "upgrade Utah’s facilities." Meanwhile, Reno’s pitch for the '30 Games is "expanding to include Sacramento as a partner as well as Squaw Valley and other Tahoe-area resorts" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/15). In Utah, Lisa Riley Roche notes during the '18 Utah Legislature, lawmakers "approved a resolution declaring Utah 'ready, willing and able' to host another Olympics and created a new fund" to cover the nearly $40M cost of readying the facilities (DESERET NEWS, 3/15).
