Salt Lake City is dealing with an entirely new process to court the IOC compared to the '02 GamesGETTY IMAGES
It "seems as though it is not 'if' but 'when' Salt Lake City will again" host the Winter Games, and details could be revealed "as soon as next year," according to Tony Semerad of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Salt Lake City's Olympic backers are "dealing with an entirely new process and set of timelines for courting the IOC" compared to the years leading up to the '02 Games. The city is back in the mix because the IOC has "essentially blown up its longstanding approach for choosing host cities" with a "broad series of IOC reforms [that] now openly favors less-expensive host cities with existing venues and strong public support." Salt Lake City, which is eyeing a bid in either '30 or '34, has that "in spades." Gone is the previous approach of "pitting competing cities against one another to host the Olympics for a given year and then announcing the winner seven years in advance," as the IOC "replaced that with two permanent panels of eight to 10 members that will screen potential Winter and Summer Games host cities in what the IOC calls 'a continuous dialogue.'" Salt Lake Organizing Exploratory Committee co-Chair Fraser Bullock said, "The big change is that, where a candidate host city would wait until 2023 for an award for 2030, that award could happen at any time. And in my mind, it could be as early as next year" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 11/4).
