The 2034 Olympic Organizing Committee leadership met with the advisory steering committee to determine what’s next on the road to Utah’s second Winter Games.
Leaders shared what has already been completed ahead of the 2034 Games. Organizing Committee Executive Chair and President Fraser Bullock said all venue agreements are confirmed and 21,000 hotel rooms are under contract. Bullock said the team has a detailed budget as well.
“Most bids, it's hard to figure out how all the economics are going to work, and so it's a little bit more speculation,” he said. “Fortunately for us, given our experience in ‘02 and given the experienced people around the table, we put together a very, very robust budget in which we feel a high level of confidence.”
Bullock said the organizing team can now focus on engaging Utah communities and youth.
Vice Chair and CEO Brad Wilson said the committee wants to hear from all 29 of Utah’s counties over the next few months.
“I got a call yesterday from the mayor of Garden City, Mayor Mike up there, wanting to know how Garden City up at Bear Lake could help prepare and be involved in the Olympic movement, and from literally every corner of the state, we're going to be engaging and listening to you,” he said.
Wilson said the listening tour will focus on the International Olympic Committee's values of sport, education and culture and how those elements can make the Beehive State shine in 2034.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said the team is looking to elevate the Games in general.
“The strength of the movement will have a direct correlation to the success of the 2034 Games,” she said. “We need both Team USA and the Olympic and Paralympic movement to be strong and healthy in this country as we lead into those Games.”
She said the team will capitalize on momentum during the Summer Games in LA in 2028.
Wilson said the team will continue its conservative spending, hiring only five or six employees this year. It will start with two employees: Catherine Raney Norman, who is heading the athletes commission and development program within the organizing committee, and Darren Hughes, who was an international Games advisor for more than two decades and who served on the bid committee.
The organizing group also needs to form more subcommittees, including audit, ethics and finance committees.
