Park City and its sister city are each planning for a Winter Olympics.

The Alps community of Courchevel, France, is set to play an important role in the Games of 2030 while the Park City area is a key to the plans for the Winter Olympics in 2034.

The upcoming Games in the two places could be a topic for discussion in coming weeks as a delegation from Courchevel travels to Park City. Mayor Nann Worel provided information about the upcoming trip during a Park City Council meeting on Thursday. She indicated the Courchevel contingent is scheduled to arrive in Park City on Aug. 30 and depart on Sept. 6. The mayor of Courchevel is slated to lead the eight-person delegation, Worel said.

She said the travelers want to study the tourism industry of Park City, including the efforts to attract visitors outside of the traditionally busy ski season.

“Their goal while they’re here is to learn how we became a year-round, vibrant city. And they have a really vibrant winter season and then they kind of roll up the sidewalks during the summertime. And they want to change that,” Worel said, adding the schedule includes discussions with the Park City Chamber/Bureau and other organizations.

The mayor did not provide a detailed rundown of the itinerary for the travelers.

It seems almost certain representatives from Park City and Courchevel will address the Games of 2030 and 2034, at least at some level, with the visit planned at the outset of the Olympic eras in both places.

The International Olympic Committee in July awarded both of the events. The Games of 2030 will stretch through a swath of the south of France while the 2034 Winter Olympics will be based in Salt Lake City with competition venues across northern Utah.

The Park City area is crucial to the concept for the Games, with Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park identified as important competition venues. The area will also be heavily involved in the transportation, security and celebration plans. The Courchevel area in the Games of 2030 is expected to host skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions, making it one of the keys to the event.

A delegation from the south of France visited the Park City area in January in an effort to learn about the efforts to stage a second Games in the state and about the legacy from the 2002 Winter Olympics. The trip included a stop at the Utah Olympic Park.

The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council, Renaud Muselier, led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage a Games. He said the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow to host an Olympics through the middle of the century.

A group of Courchevel students, meanwhile, was in Utah in July as part of a student-exchange program. The stay coincided with the IOC selections of the Games of 2030 and 2034 hosts.

Worel at the meeting on Thursday also said a delegation from Park City, including herself, traveled to Courchevel in 2023 to attend skiing championships to learn “how they organize their events and how they deal with their transportation challenges, etc.”

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There was widespread excitement in Park City on July 24 as the International Olympic Committee selected Salt Lake City as the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.

And there was also likely a round of cheers in the community as the IOC also selected France as the host of the Games of four years earlier, as a sprawling bid involving the south of France and the Alps was named the host of the 2030 event.

A group of students from Park City’s sister city of Courchevel, France, was in the state from July 20 until Sunday, a time period that included the announcement of the locations for the Winter Olympics in 2030 and 2034, as well as the celebrations making the selection of Salt Lake City. It was by happenstance that the students were in Park City at the time, but their presence added a different dimension to the historic day. Courchevel is identified as a location for some of the competitions in the Games of 2030.

Park City and Courchevel operate a student-exchange program, and the 16 students, ranging in age from 16 to 18, were in Park City as part of the exchange, along with four chaperones. Park City students were in Courchevel in February.

“It’s almost destiny,” Tina Quayle, the president of the Park City Sister City Association, said about the awarding of the two Games at the same time and as the French students were in the community.

Quayle said there will be opportunities for the sister cities to engage as they each plan for their respective Games. She said they can learn from each other as they prepare. Quayle predicted a group from Park City will travel to France for the Games in 2030 as part of the preparations.

“You can bet there will be a contingent invited to the Olympics in 2030,” she said. “I’m certain there will be.”

Quayle said the officials in Park City who plan for the Games can learn from the French as they ready the 2030 event. She said, as an example, the French excel at putting on a spectacle.

“Their showmanship when it comes to fireworks, drones, lights … putting all of that together,” she said. “They know how to put on a show. And their shows have a French flavor, which is different than an American flavor.”

She pointed to the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris as she spoke.

The Park City area is critical to the plans for a second Games in the state, as was the case during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as key competition venues. The area will also be important to the traffic, security and celebration plans.

The student exchange followed in the months after a contingent from the south of France visited the Park City area as part of a wider mission to Utah in an effort to learn about the Games. An official from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage the Games and saying the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow for a Winter Olympics through 2050.

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The group seeking to host a second Winter Olympics in the state is continuing to prepare for a Games in 2034.

And there has not been any discussion at the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games about the prospects of France saying “Non” to the Winter Olympics of four years earlier and what the implications could be on the state’s bid if that was to occur.

The leadership of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games on Wednesday briefly addressed a scenario, seemingly unlikely, of the French bid for the Games of 2030 essentially collapsing in coming weeks with national elections scheduled in late June and early July. The bid covers the Provence, the Alps and the Côte d’Azur regions.

The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday said the French bid for the Games of 2030 still must deliver a guarantee from the national government. An important IOC figure in the selection of Olympic cities, Future Host Commission chair Karl Stoss, told reporters he anticipates the guarantee will be delivered by the date of the upcoming selection of the cities for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics, expected just before the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris in July.

It is a bit of late intrigue, though, in a selection process that seemed to be advancing as planned until the French political situation arose. The IOC in November tapped Salt Lake City as the likely host in 2034 and the French bid as likely for 2030. In the months since then, the efforts in the two places have been progressing in anticipation of the selections this summer.

In comments to the media on Wednesday, Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, said the organization has not held talks about shifting plans from the Games of 2034 to those of 2030 if the French bid falters.

“100% all in on 2034. It’s the perfect fit for us,” he said. “That’s it. That’s our focus.”

Bullock said he is “cheering them on” as he spoke about the French bid.

The comments about the politics in France were some of the highlights as the IOC and the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games spoke separately on Wednesday. The executive board of the IOC on Wednesday formally recommended the French bid for 2030 and the 2034 Salt Lake City bid. The full IOC will consider the recommendations during a session in Paris in July.

Salt Lake City has long been seen as a top choice for a future Winter Olympics with the venues from the Games of 2002 remaining in operation and broad public support. The question of which event would work best, though, stretched for years as officials at the IOC, national Olympic figures and backers in the state considered options. The event in 2034, rather than the one in 2030, was ultimately pursued as the parties sought to avoid an overlap in fundraising between a Games in Salt Lake City and the 2028 Summer Olympics, which are slated for Los Angeles.

The Park City area would play a key role in a second Games in the state, as was the case in 2002. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as competition venues on the concept map while the community would also be key to the transportation, security and celebration plans. An IOC delegation spent time in the Park City area in April during an important visit to the state that included tours of proposed venues and meetings with bid officials and government leaders.

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The French Alps are expected to be one of the scenic backdrops to the 2030 Winter Olympics.

And the Mediterranean Sea would offer another spectacular view.

As the International Olympic Committee prepares for the likely award of the Games of that year to France, a contingent from the region visited the Park City area on Thursday to learn about the Olympic legacy in Utah and the efforts to stage a second Games in the state.

The French contingent stopped at the Utah Olympic Park, which hosted ski jumping and the sliding sports in the 2002 Winter Olympics and is identified as a key venue in the plans for a second Games.

The IOC this summer is slated to award the 2030 and 2034 Games, with a French bid stretching through Provence, the Alps and the Côte d’Azur lined up for 2030 and Salt Lake City identified as the likely host in 2034. The Park City area would play a large role in a second Games, as with the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Renaud Muselier, the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council, led the French delegation to Utah and spoke to reporters while at the Utah Olympic Park. He expressed confidence in the region’s ability to stage a Games, saying the area already hosts international-level competitions in skiing, rugby and soccer. He also noted Marseilles, in the south of France, will host some competitions during the Summer Olympics in Paris this year.

Muselier addressed the climate of the south of France and the Alps, saying there is confidence the Games can be held there. The mountain resorts in the region are generally at lower elevations than in the American West.

“The people who don’t like snow say, always, there’s no more snow,” he said.

Muselier said the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow through 2050. He added that the Olympic officials there have a detailed understanding of snowfall trends.

“We know, mountain by mountain, resort by resort … and level by level, the feet, where we will have snow. So that’s not a problem,” he said.

The trip was scheduled at a time when the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and the Olympic region of Utah are both continuing work toward staging a Games. The French contingent and figures in the Olympic efforts in Utah used the visit as a means to collaborate and learn from one another.

Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, said the visitors learned about the Winter Olympics of 2002, while the Utahns heard of the plans for a Games in France in 2030. There are similar issues as the two prepare for a future Games, he said.

The French contingent arrived Wednesday and is scheduled to depart on Sunday. Salt Lake City and Moab were also on the itinerary. The delegation included government officials, tourism-industry representatives and academics. It is common for communities that are preparing for a Games to visit places with an Olympic legacy.

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Salt Lake City and the wider Winter Olympic region in coming days could advance to another phase of the discussions with the International Olympic Committee about hosting a second Games, something that, if it occurs, would put the capital city, the Park City area and other communities involved in the efforts on the precipice of a selection for the Games of 2030 or those of four years later. 

The Executive Board of the IOC is scheduled to meet in Paris from Wednesday until Friday with a presentation by the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization’s Future Host Commission scheduled on the first day. The Future Host Commission holds a key role in the early stages of the selection process of Olympic cities.

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, which is the group leading the efforts to secure a second Olympics in the state, hopes the IOC during the meetings in Paris invites Salt Lake City into a phase of the selection process known as a targeted dialogue. The IOC and a potential host city during a targeted dialogue engage in a detailed review of the plan to stage a Games. It does not entail the awarding of an Olympics, but a city that advances to the targeted dialogue phase with the IOC is seen as a leading contender for a later selection as host.

“It’s a very definitive step forward toward a potential Games award,” Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, said in an interview about the targeted dialogue phase.

A press conference by the IOC is scheduled Wednesday morning, Mountain Standard Time.

An awarding of the Games of 2030 could occur in the summer, just before the Summer Olympics open in Paris in July, with the possibility the host of the 2034 event will also be named at that time.

The leaders of the Salt Lake City efforts have long preferred hosting the Olympics in 2034 rather than in 2030. There is concern about an overlap in fundraising between the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and an organizing committee preparing for a Winter Olympics in Utah just two years later. The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, though, has also indicated for some time it could stage the event in 2030 if need be.

The agenda for the Executive Board on Wednesday runs from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Central European Time, eight hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time. The Future Host Commission presentation is scheduled at the end of the meeting, followed by the press conference.

The statements made by the IOC during the press conference will be closely watched in the Park City area and in other places involved in the Games work. The question of whether the Games of 2030 or those of 2034 are best suited for the state has loomed over the discussions for more than a year. The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, the Statehouse, local governments and others will be able to begin crafting timelines for preparations once the year is known.

Years of work in the era after the 2002 Winter Olympics put Salt Lake City in line to host a second Games. The talk of another Winter Olympics started just after the cauldron was extinguished in 2002, and in the 20-plus years since then the state positioned itself as a winter-sports capital. The backers of the effort point to a culture of winter sports in the state and the continued heavy use of the athletic venues from 2002.

The Park City area would have an outsized role in a second Games, as was the case 21 years ago. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park — each hosting competitions in 2002 — are identified as important athletic venues on the concept map for another Winter Olympics. Park City and surrounding Summit County would also be crucial to the transportation, security and celebration planning.

City Hall and County Courthouse leaders are working alongside the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, which is also engaging the identified competition venues in discussions that are expected to result in agreements to stage Games events at the individual venues. The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, meanwhile, is securing lodging contracts in the Park City area and elsewhere for the periods of the Games of 2030 and 2034.

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