Will Salt Lake Host the Winter Olympics Again, 2017? 2017 Eidition

A few year ago, I wrote this.  The question I asked was would Salt Lake host the Winter Games again?  A lot has changed since then.

First of all, I wrote that the IOC likes to spread the games around.  However, in bidding for the 2022 games, all of the cities dropped out except for Beijing and Almaty.  This was due to the expense of the games in Sochi and due to the publication of what neglected Olympic sites look like now.  Cities do not want to spend billions for facilities that will only be used once.  Sochi was the most expensive Olympic games ever, bar none.  Most of Sochi's sites will never host another winter event, although the stadium is one of the World Cup stadia for 2018.  Sochi is a summer resort town.

That is why the 2018 Winter Games, the 2020 Summer Games and the 2022 Winter Games will all be in Asia.  This has not happened since the early days of the modern Olympic movement.

Los Angeles is bidding for the 2024 summer games.  Paris is considered the favorite to host these games.  The heart of LA's bid is that they can do it on the cheap.  Most of the events will be at venues that have already been built, including many that were used in 1984.  That really gives LA no advantage over Paris, as they also have many existing venues and can host the games at a low cost.

Will LA bid for the 2028 games if they lose out?  Traditionally, summer sites do not bid for more than one Olympiad in a row.  Right now, the USOC is putting all of its eggs in the 2024 LA basket.  The USOC is not planning to bid for either the 2026 Winter games nor the 2028 Summer games.  The 2028 games will likely come to the Americas if Paris is selected, but LA is already at a huge disadvantage.  Toronto, Guadalajara and Buenos Aires already are pursuing the bid in 2028 and likely are the front runners.  Likely Canada, Mexico and all of South America will vote for Paris in hopes to improve their chances to host the games in 2028.  Both Toronto and Guadalajara plan to make heavy use of existing facilities to lower costs.  If the USOC was willing to let LA also bid for 2028, and do so publicly, they would improve the chances of LA getting the games in 2024 and trump any the advantage that Paris has with the other Western Hemisphere countries that want the games.  Sounds like circular logic, I know.  This is the way the Olympic bidding works.

The best shot the US has at hosting the Olympics before 2040 is to host a winter games.  To do it on the cheap, Salt Lake or Lake Placid are the only cities with existing facilities.  A lot of Lake Placid's facilities for the 1980 games have been re-purposed.

There are other cities that want to host a Winter Games, but Salt Lake has advantages in addition to cost.  The main disadvantages are the climate and culture.  The main climate disadvantage is the pollution in the winter time.  This was not really a problem in 2002.  Usually, by February the inversions are gone for the year.  The main culture problem is not the Mormon issue.  It is the push against the national monuments, which makes it look like Utahans are against visitors and environmental preservation.

The best advantage that Salt Lake has is that most of the venues built for 2002 have been put to continuous use and have been kept in good repair.  This also makes Salt Lake a good backup city in case any winter games in the future are delayed due to natural disaster or political unrest.

If the USOC isn't willing to allow a bid for the 2026 winter games, Calgary or Innsbruck will get them and get the chance to prove that recycled facilities will work.  This will improve Salt Lake's chances with both the USOC and the IOC.  The 2030 will then become the first chance the US will host the games again, and the US should consider using Salt Lake City again, especially if Innsbruck is selected for 2026.  Realistically, if the USOC doesn't want to host the 2026 games, the first best shot the US has for winter is 2030 or 2034.

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Update...next weekend, the IOC will vote on a proposal to award the 2024 AND 2028 games in September.  If this passes, the 2024 games are expected to go to Paris and the 2028 games are expected to go to Los Angeles.  However, this proposal will give host cities in the future more time to plan the games and more time to develop plans for post-Olympic use of the facilities.  That is one thing that Salt Lake City did better than almost any Olympic city, summer or winter.