Utah’s decade of opportunity: The ripple effect of hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics

With all the hoopla surrounding the Pioneer Day vote that’s expected to bring the Winter Games back to Utah, it might be easy to forget that another Olympics would be nearly a decade away.

The International Olympic Committee is set to award the 2034 Winter Games on July 24, at a meeting in Paris ahead of the start of this summer’s Olympics. A delegation that includes Fraser Bullock , the bid committee’s president and leader of the Olympic effort, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and other elected leaders, is traveling to the French capital for the long-awaited decision.

But what happens once the bid first launched in 2012 becomes a reality?

Don’t look for work to start anytime time soon on the nuts and bolts of putting on the Games. A top IOC executive made it clear during an April visit to Utah that there’s no need to rush to put together an Olympics and Paralympics with a total budget of around $4 billon to be raised from private sources, largely the sale of sponsorships, broadcast rights and tickets.

After all, no new permanent venues are needed, since those built for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City remain in use by both elite and amateur athletes thanks to an endowment established with Olympic profits and some $92 million appropriated by the Utah Legislature in recent years.

Plus, under the IOC’s new, less formal selection process that saw Utah’s bid named the sole “preferred host” for 2034 late last year, detailed plans have already been assembled for everything from accommodating a 40% increase in the number of events since 2002 to how many tickets can be sold for each one.

There’s another, more practical reason for not being in a hurry. Organizers are dependent on donors until 2029, when the exclusive right to sell domestic sponsorships expires for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Between now and then, the number of 2034 Games employees is expected to be limited to around 10 people.

Finding out what Utahns want from another Olympics

Their focus would be on getting Utahns to look ahead to not just the weeks-long event in 2034, but what hosting can do for the state over the next decade, especially when it comes to involving youth in sports, said Catherine Raney Norman, chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that’s behind the bid.

“We’re really trying to take a thoughtful and intentional approach around this,” said Raney Norman, a speedskater who competed in four Olympics, including the 2002 Games . Spending time to find out what Utahns want from 2034, she said, “is absolutely critical for us to do.”

A “listening tour” of community leaders, youth sports organizations and other interested groups will follow the formation of a Winter Games organizing committee that likely to come before the end of the year, Raney Norman said, building on plans being developed to expand sports opportunities to children in all of the state’s 29 counties.

“We’re not going to wait too long,” she said. “We want to continue the momentum and the excitement within the community.”

The governor has already started putting together a list of potential projects for what he’s called “Utah’s decade,” through his Unified Economic Opportunity Commission. In May, members started brainstorming ideas , coming up with a list that includes everything from adding more state parks to using Olympians to stress the importance of physical and mental health.

“I think the planning starts immediately,” Cox said, calling on local government leaders to begin reaching out to their constituents. “What I would like to see is that everyone is involved in that conversation. It’s a real kind of resetting. Every organization — every human being — needs a goal, needs something they’re working towards. And this is that for all of us.”

Another Winter Games provides that deadline for Utahns to determine what they want their home to look like in 10 years, he said.

Flying cars and other projects that could be coming in time for a 2034 Olympics

“It’s not just about the Olympics, and the specifics of how we get people from Point A to Point B. It’s a little broader than that. It’s how do we do the things that matter to Utahns 10 years from now and put on our best face for the world. How do we use this as a springboard to improve the things that we know we need to do, and want to do anyway,” the governor said.

He pointed to Salt Lake City’s downtown revitalization , to accommodate Utah’s new National Hockey League team at the Delta Center while turning surrounding streets into a sports, entertainment, culture and convention district. The structure of the multibillion-dollar project was put in place in the final days of the 2024 Legislature.

“The transformation that’s happening there is a great example of this. It’s not just about hockey . In fact, hockey is just a small piece of that. It’s not just about hockey. It’s not just about the Olympics,” Cox said, calling it a chance to play “a little offense and say, ‘How do we make this better for the next generation’ instead of just putting out fires and dealing with problems.”

The projects on the governor’s list? Speeding up some big transportation projects, like double-tracking for FrontRunner’s commuter trains, expanding TRAX light rail lines and implementing a new vertical system that promises to move people above the ground in passenger drones, also known as “air taxis.”

“I promise they’re coming,” Cox said, adding the flying cars of the future may be in use in time for Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. “They’re real. The prototypes are all out there. So there will be some opportunities for that, again for us to dream big and do some very innovative and interesting things.”

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall wants a “Green Loop” of open space around downtown by 2034. The planned 5½-mile pathway of urban forest and park space is intended to help make it easier for young families to live in the core of the capital city. The project would be in addition to the revitalization underway.

“These things are going to take time,” Mendenhall said. “It’s my ambition that they’re all happening over the next 10 years so our residents are going to see the Games coming through the improvements that we build around the city, especially in the heart of the downtown.”

Bullock , the bid committee’s president and CEO and the chief operating officer of the 2002 Games, said at a recent meeting of the governor’s commission that having a 10 year lead-up would offer “the opportunity to use the platform of the Games to do good.”

He suggested there could be a collaboration on “the four or five things that we can really focus on that will make a difference for the state” because tying too many projects to another Olympics would be “scattered.”

In addition to the focus on youth initiatives that would build on the 2002 “One School, One Country” program that saw Utah students learning the national anthems and culture of the athletes coming to compete, Bullock said the hope is to be able to “accelerate Utah initiatives,” particularly when it comes to transportation.

“That was big in ‘02. It was incredibly successful, the way all of the pieces came together,” he said, such as the expansion of I-15 and opening the initial TRAX lines. This time around, an area that causing concern is Kimball Junction at I-80, because more events planned for 2034, there would be three even busier competition venues in area.

Another goal for a 2034 Games, he said, is to “foster greater unity” among Utahns by tapping into their strong support for hosting again. The latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found that 79% of Utahns are in favor of hosting the 2034 Winter Games, and the same number would like to see the state someday become a permanent Olympic host .

In 2002, “we had volunteers from everywhere,” Bullock said. “Maybe there’s a notion of utilizing volunteerism over the next 10 years to bring people together and build toward a crescendo for the Games. Maybe you qualify to become an Olympic Games volunteer if you volunteer along the way.”

Another Olympics about service, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney says

A 2034 Games is expected to have a $6.6 billion economic impact on the state over the coming decade, according to a report released this month by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. That includes $4.1 billion in new spending and more than 42,000 job years of employment to the state, along with $2.5 billion in personal income.

And another new report by the policy institute found the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation that manages venues from 2002 at the Utah Olympic Park near Park City, the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns and the Solider Hollow Nordic Center in Midway, adds $132 million to the economy annually, including an estimated $11.9 million spent by visitors to the sites last year.

But Utah Sen. Mitt Romney , who led the organizing committee for the 2002 Games, said hosting the Olympics is about more than making money.

“What it means to Utah is a chance to serve the world. This is about serving and giving to others. That’s what distinguished our Games, the people of Utah rising to the challenge and serving people that came to attend the Games but also to compete,” Romney said, referring to the thousands of volunteers who were hailed for their friendliness and language skills.

“That’s what stands out,” the retiring senator said. “There are lots of places that have great venues. There are lots of places that have adequate transportation systems and good hotels. What stood apart in the Games of 2002 was the welcoming, collaborative service of the volunteers that staffed the Games. ... I think people were surprised.”

Romney recalled a group of volunteers during the Paralympics for athletes with disabilities that follow the Olympics noticing that the Armenian team didn’t have the right equipment, “so they did a collection and bought them skis and winter clothing. I mean, people couldn’t believe how helpful the folks in Utah were, and how oriented they were to helping other people.”

His advice for Utahns as they get ready for another opportunity to welcome the world?

“If people go with an attitude of, ‘What will the Games do for Utah and for us,’ they’re bound to be disappointed. But if they go with, ‘What can we do to perform an extraordinary service for the athletes of the world and young people who watch the Games,’ then they’re going to be delighted,” Romney said.

For a 2034 Games, he said he expects to be a financial contributor and would “help in any way.”

Why the state would play a ‘major role’ in another Utah Games

The governor recently said Bullock would head up the successor to 2002′s Salt Lake Organizing Committee, known simply as SLOC in the years leading up to those Games. The structure of an organizing committee that would be responsible for a 2034 Games has yet to be determined.

While the $2.83 billion operating budget for another Games would come from private sources, largely the sale of sponsorships, broadcast rights and tickets, it’s the state that guarantees any shortfalls would be covered. And it’s Cox who would sign the host contract with the IOC after the Games are awarded. In 2002, the IOC dealt only with cities, so the state indemnified Salt Lake City.

That means the buck, “stops with me and the Legislature, whose given me the authority,” the governor said. He pledged the state would “play a major role” in putting together another Olympics, although what that looks like remains to be seen.

“We know there are lots of events not being held in Salt Lake City. There are events being held everywhere, so the emphasis even in the branding is on Utah as a state,” he said, adding, “It’s everyone working together. We’ll be working with our mayors. We’ll be working with nonprofits throughout the state. We’ll be working with our churches. We’ll be working with our private sector as well.”

But in the end, it’s the state’s reputation that’s on the line, Cox said.

“This will be a very Utah-led effort, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re getting the planning (done) and make sure we’re pulling this off,” the governor said. “Because it will reflect on the entire state if we do poorly.”