On Tuesday, Utah’s Bid Committee gave an overview of its work to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee, which unanimously pledged its support.
The five-member committee includes House Republicans, Jon Hawkins of Pleasant Grove and Kera Birkeland of Morgan. On the Senate side, the GOP is represented by Assistant Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore and Mike McKell of Spanish Fork. Democratic Minority Leader Luz Escamilla of Salt Lake City rounds out the committee.
The Bid Committee discussed its vision to ‘elevate’ local communities, sport and the Games experience and outlined the International Olympic Committee’s Future Host Commission’s thoughts on proposed venues.
The committee also outlined the Games budget; the 2034 Games are expected to cost over $2.8 billion. Birkeland expressed concern it wouldn’t be possible to host the Olympics without leaning on taxpayers, but Bid Committee president Fraser Bullock assured the Coordination Committee taxpayers wouldn’t be burdened.
“We already did it before in 2002 and we had a $76 million surplus at the end. It was completely privately financed," he said. "In fact, there was $59 million that were paid back to the state that were borrowed to help get some venues started.”
The 2034 Games will follow that playbook. Further, the budget has a $460 million contingency plan, which is more than in 2002.
The Coordination Committee also discussed its new responsibilities after a bill modified Games provisions. The committee will now receive an annual report of funding requests from Olympic and Paralympic venues like the Olympic Legacy Foundation and will make recommendations on how funding is distributed.
The International Olympic Committee Executive Board will decide whether to put Utah’s bid forward to a vote June 12. The IOC will select a host for the 2034 Games on July 24 in Paris.
