Bid supporters said they could still see Calgary hosting another Winter Games in the futureCALGARY BIDCO
Supporters of Calgary's bid to host the '26 Games acknowledged that it is "unlikely the city will consider another bid" for '30 after voters "rejected a bid" in a plebiscite on Tuesday, according to Yolande Cole of the CALGARY HERALD. The supporters indicated that they "do see the city hosting another Winter Games in the future, if there's community support behind it." Calgary '26 Chair Scott Hutcheson: "I don't think it's 2030. ... You can't put a city through this every four years. My view would be let it go, accept the result, move on and come back with a bid maybe in seven years." Cole notes 56.4% of the vote was "against Calgary hosting" the event in '26, and while city council "must still formally vote to end the bid ... senior governments have said their financial support of the Games was contingent on the endorsement of Calgarians." Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it would be a "bad idea" for the city to bid on the '30 Games. Nenshi: "I cannot imagine what would be different four years from now" (CALGARY HERALD, 11/15). Hutcheson yesterday said that it would "take the better part of a week for him and his team to reflect on what went wrong." Hutcheson: "Maybe nothing went wrong. Maybe this is what the community would've wanted no matter what" (CALGARY HERALD, 11/15).
WAKE-UP CALL FOR IOC: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes under the header, "International Olympic Committee Running Out Of Cities That Will Throw Its Parties." Calgary on Tuesday "joined Sapporo, Japan; Sion, Switzerland; and Graz, Austria, in saying 'thanks, but no thanks' for the right to throw the IOC a lavish party" in '26. There also remains a "good possibility bids in Italy and Stockholm could soon follow." Armour: "This isn't a 2026 oddity, either." More cities (eight) "dropped out of the bidding" for the '22 Beijing and '24 Paris Games "than stayed in (four)." Several others "took themselves out of the running before the official process began." The "payoff for hosting an Olympics is, too often, fool's gold." The Calgary referendum is just the "latest sign that cities are getting wise to the IOC's games" (USA TODAY, 11/15). A GLOBE & MAIL editorial states that the IOC has "become, in the eyes of many, a greedy and remote sports-entertainment company." Calgarians who supported the '26 bid "should find solace in the fact their city is on the leading edge of a resistance that could force the IOC to change." People "love the Olympics," but they are "finally telling the IOC and its cloistered members that the IOC needs cities more than cities need the IOC" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/15). The GLOBE & MAIL's Gary Mason notes with Calgary essentially out of the bidding, there are now "only two suitors vying" to host the '26 Games, which is "remarkably telling and could signal an important turning point in the recent history of the Olympics" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/15).
TOUGH LOOK: The GLOBE & MAIL's Cathal Kelly writes the "lesson to be drawn from Calgary's decision hasn't anything to do with organizing, messaging or cost analyses." It is "more elemental than that." It is that, in the future, all cities "will have to ask themselves: if Calgary won't, then why on Earth would we?" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/15). A TORONTO STAR editorial writes under the header, "The Winter Olympics Are In Trouble When Even Calgary Doesn't Want Them" (TORONTO STAR, 11/15).
A LITTLE HELP: The AP's Andrew Dampf notes the joint Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo '26 Games bid has "received another boost with a funding promise from the Italian government." Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said if "private funding isn't enough, we'll make the final push" to cover the remaining costs. Salvini's announcement signals a shift after Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio last month said that the government would "send a letter of support for the bid" to the IOC "but as government we won't provide 1 euro -- neither for direct nor indirect costs." The joint bid is "operating on a budget" of between US$2.3-3.4M but could "scale back if Stockholm were also to withdraw" (AP, 11/15).
