The leadership of the International Olympic Committee on Friday approved the awarding of the Winter Olympics of 2030 and 2034 at the same time, a decision the group seeking a Games in Utah has been awaiting as it continues to prepare a bid.
The Executive Board of the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization provided the go-ahead for the IOC’s Future Host Commission to pursue a so-called dual award for the two events. The Future Host Commission earlier recommended a dual award process, and the Executive Board approved that process in the days before the IOC Session is scheduled in Mumbai, India. The selection of the host cities of 2030 and 2034 could be made at an IOC Session in 2024, just before the Summer Olympics open in Paris.
The IOC also requested the Future Host Commission, a key group in the selection process, recommend the 2030 and 2034 preferred hosts. The cities at that point could be invited into another level of discussions, known as the Targeted Dialogue phase. The Future Host Commission recommendations could be made in late October or in November, with the Executive Board potentially acting on the recommendations during meetings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
The decision regarding a dual award of the Games of 2030 and 2034 is a crucial step for the efforts in Utah. Questions about whether it is best for Salt Lake City and the wider Olympic region to host a Games in 2030 and 2034 have loomed over the discussions for months.
There has been a preference by the Salt Lake City bidders for the event in 2034, which would avoid the scenario of an overlap in the fundraising by the organizers of a Games in Utah and the committee putting on the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Salt Lake City bidders, though, have said either the Games of 2030 or those of four years later could be staged in the state.
The prospects of a dual award next summer will likely have broad implications in coming months as the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games — the group leading the bid — and governments in the region prepare for the possibility of Salt Lake City being named the host of one of the years. The capital city is seen as a favorite to host a Games in either 2030 or 2034.
“Everything is in place,” said Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. “All the heavy lifting for the bid phase is done.”
Bullock said the work on a bid thus far had been focused on the Games of 2030. The decision regarding the dual award requires the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games to adapt the materials, including the budget, to incorporate the 2034 event. He said, though, most of the hundreds of contracts negotiated by the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, such as those with competition venues and those with lodging properties, contemplated a Games in 2030 or 2034. Bullock said there will be additional talks between the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games and the Future Host Commission in the period before the meetings on Nov. 30 and Dec 1.
Bullock, who was a high-ranking official in the organizing committee that put on the 2002 Winter Olympics, also mentioned the spirit of the community and the role the Park City area and Wasatch County played 21 years ago.
The Park City area is crucial to the conceptual Winter Olympic map, as was the case during the Games in 2002. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as important competition venues in the concept map, as is Soldier Hollow in nearby Wasatch County. The Park City area would also be key to the transportation, security and celebration plans, similarly to the blueprints for the Games of 21 years ago.
City Hall and the County Courthouse are heavily involved in the efforts, but officials in Park City and Summit County, like the others, are awaiting a decision by the IOC. If a Games is awarded, leaders in the city and county would be expected to start building an early foundation for the years of planning that will follow.
The IOC traditionally awarded a Games seven years prior to the year of the event but is amid a wide-ranging review of the future of the movement, including the impact of a changing climate on the Winter Olympics. There has also been discussion about creating a set of cities as the hosts of the Winter Olympics on a rotational basis.