Leaders Celebrate SLC Olympic Bid
Dec 14, 2018, 7:17 PM | Updated: 11:48 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Salt Lake has been selected as the bid city for the United States Olympic Committee as America goes after another Winter Games.
It’s news state, local leaders and many Utahns have been hoping to hear for months, even years.
Friday was a long day for folks invested in the process as they waited to see if the city would beat out Denver for the bid.
It was just after 4 p.m. when Salt Lake City Mayor Biskupski got the congratulatory call.
Austin Schofield has been a community activist pushing for this. He keeps the public up-to-date on news related to a the bid on Twitter @SLC2030.
“I was 9 years old when the Olympics were here in 2002 and so being able to experience them myself and being able to actually remember what happened would be awesome,” he said.
What’s the next step?
Fraser Bullock, a chair of the Utah Olympic Exploratory Committee, says they will begin working on a new strategy and begin to meet with the community, and now country partners to start making a plan to get the International Olympic Bid.
But first, “Relax over the weekend while we celebrate, and then we’ll get back to work on Monday, and we’ll be in contact with the USOC, and we’ll work together with them to come up with a long-term plan.”
Jeff Robbins with the Utah Sports Commission says typically the IOC makes a decision about an Olympic games host location seven years beforehand.
The next open winter bid is 2030, so the next big announcement would most likely be 2023.
Talk is that Kazakhstan and Sapporo, Japan are in the running to host for 2030, now perhaps with Utah.
