U.S. Olympic Committee Could Make 2030 Host City Decision By Dec. 14

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Olympic Exploratory Committee held a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss the recent visit to the Salt Lake area by the United States Olympic Committee. Organizers expect the USOC could make a decision during a December 13 and 14 meeting.

“I will say the visit went extraordinarily well. Like, it was A+++,” Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said.

The USOC group visited venues across the Salt Lake and Park City areas to see how well they could host the Winter Olympic Games. Salt Lake is competing against Denver to be the USOC’s 2030 host city candidate.

Biskupski and OEC co-chair Fraser Bullock said Salt Lake was in a unique position to host the Games at a reduced cost.

Bullock said many cities are not interested in hosting the Games because of the expenses involved. However, Salt Lake City and Park City still have infrastructure from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in place. Bullock said organizers expect the Games would break even through Utah-based sponsorships and they do not plan to ask for taxpayer money toward the Games. Bullock said he expected Salt Lake could be a model for other cities that would like to host.

“If we do that and we show future host cities how to be more efficient and more effective, it could open the world up to many more cities that could host the Games,” Bullock said.

Biskupski said the city conducted a poll that showed 90 percent of people in the Salt Lake area support bringing the Games back. She said the USOC would conduct their own poll in the next week or two.