Technical experts from the International Olympic Committee toured Park City ski resorts, Soldier Hollow and other potential sites for future Games last week. They also shared tips for how Salt Lake City can rise to the top of the list.
“They said, ‘You don't fit a city to the Games, you fit a Games to the city,’” said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. “They're very focused on making sure the Games need to fit in with the community, such that we are additive to what they're trying to accomplish. Whether it's sustainability or what else, how can we be a catalyst for that city to move forward in whatever objectives it has?”
Sustainability initiatives like electric buses and a clean energy facility under construction align with Olympic committee goals. Bullock said it bodes well that there’s no need to build new infrastructure in Utah.
The technical review committee’s findings are confidential, but Bullock said tweaks to the approach of the 2002 Salt Lake City Games are on the table. For instance, the committee recommended adding areas for spectators along alpine runs at Snowbasin that weren’t there in 2002.
Bullock’s in-state committee also plans to work with Park City leadership on how much attendance to allow locally, weighing congestion and other logistics for the would-be hosting city.
The Mayflower Mountain Resort, which only just started prep work to build chairlifts, could get in on the action.
“What we have to do is fit in all the new events, such as slopestyle, big air, ski- and snowboardcross, which are all really fun events,” Bullock told KPCW.
The idea to consider the new resort as an event site has support from the Mayflower project developer.
“If the Games do come, we would like to be considered for a venue,” said Kurt Krieg, vice president of development, Extell Utah. “We hope that Utah does bring back the Games.”
Bullock said Utah is competing with three other primary potential hosts: Sapporo, Japan; Vancouver, Canada and Barcelona, Spain. All have formerly hosted the Olympics, and all but Barcelona have hosted winter Games.
“We're all trying to put together our best bids,” Bullock said. “We are in this process called continuous dialogue, which is an ongoing collaboration between the IOC and a bid city. So we take their advice, and we'll incorporate that into our plans and move forward with the best bid that we can put forward.”
While those leading the charge in Salt Lake City hope to secure the 2030 Olympics, hosting in 2034 is also a possibility. If Utah doesn’t get the 2030 bid, the committee will have a head start on 2034.
The international committee will continue to visit potential host cities and report back to Lausanne, Switzerland with findings in June.
Bullock said a decision may come in May of 2023.
