The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday invited Salt Lake City into another phase of the discussions about hosting a second Winter Olympics in the state, a landmark moment in the efforts to return the Games to Utah that have been underway for much of the time since the cauldron was extinguished on the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The IOC and the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, which is the group seeking the event, will engage in a phase known as the targeted dialogue for the Winter Olympics of 2034. Salt Lake City is the IOC’s preferred host for that year.
The IOC also said the Games of 2030 and 2034 will be awarded at the same time, a so-called dual award. The awarding of the 2030 and 2034 events is planned at an IOC Session in Paris in July, just before the start of the Summer Olympics in the French capital. The IOC on Wednesday invited the French Alps region into a targeted dialogue for the Winter Olympics of 2030.
In remarks during a press conference, Karl Stoss, the chair of the IOC’s Future Host Commission, said positives about the Salt Lake City bid include the legacy of the Games 21 years ago, the existing facilities and what he described as “exceptional public support.” The IOC also said other places interested in hosting a Winter Olympics would benefit from additional time to craft their plans.
The IOC provided a timeline leading to the IOC session in Paris, including a submission as a future host in February, followed by guarantees shortly afterward. The IOC intends to visit the state in April. IOC meetings are slated in May and June as the organization prepares for the gathering in Paris.
The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games had hoped the IOC during the meetings this week would extend the invitation to enter the targeted dialogue phase. The IOC and a potential host city during a targeted dialogue engage in a detailed review of the plans to stage a Games. A city that advances to a targeted dialogue is seen as a leading contender for a later selection as host.
“The decision of the IOC to invite Salt Lake City-Utah into targeted dialogue as the preferred host for 2034 is a credit to our communities working together to create a welcoming region for sport across our state. For more than a decade, our state and community leaders have united towards this goal. The IOC has recognized our high level of preparedness, with all venues in place and active, as well as overwhelming support from our political and business leaders as well as the public,” Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, said in a prepared statement.
Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as competition venues on the concept maps for a Games. City Hall, the County Courthouse and the two resorts have been involved in the talks to date, but it is not clear what sort of role they will have during the targeted dialogue phase. Extensive work went into the preparation of the submittal to the IOC with details from the various parties incorporated into the information.
The selection process changed radically from the era prior to the awarding of the Games of 2002 to Salt Lake City, relying on a long-running discussion between the IOC and the cities interested in hosting followed by the targeted dialogue. The invitation was also extended more than 10 years prior to the Games of 2034. Under the previous process, selections of Olympic hosts were made seven years in advance.
The additional time in the process could provide the Park City area an opportunity to more closely consider the possibility of tapping Olympic-related monies that are expected to flow into the region from the federal government. Leaders have seen a second Winter Olympics as something that could provide a boost to the efforts to address traffic and transportation, as an example. Those talks are expected to occur over time, but it is expected Park City and Summit County will address the topics along a timeline that allows for completion of any projects well before the cauldron is lit on a Games.
