2026 Winter Olympics - 7 expressions of interest

So much about the bidding seems like cart and horse. In Calgary for example don't they still have to hold the public referendum? This means, IOC has whittled cities down to include some that may end up backing out. IIRC, this approach ended in the Beijing/Almaty fiasco when Oslo and I think other cities backed out closer to the end of the process over cost and issues of public support.

I'm not expert on what Calgary is going through atm but I think a lot of the Olympic interest is embedded in the hope that it will attract federal infrastructure funding. I think there are a number of basic needs, not to mention the need to build/refurbish key sports venues to retain franchises that drive a material part of the local economy.
 
Rock2 said:
I'm not expert on what Calgary is going through atm but I think a lot of the Olympic interest is embedded in the hope that it will attract federal infrastructure funding. I think there are a number of basic needs, not to mention the need to build/refurbish key sports venues to retain franchises that drive a material part of the local economy.
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The Calgary Flames have been working hard to try and get the city to fund a substantial part of a new arena. Given that their home rink is the Saddledome (built in the early 80s, pre-Calgary 88 Olympics), we *are* due for an updated facility...but not on the backs of local taxpayers especially in the current economy. The NHL/team owners need to dig deeper to get the rink they want...they can keep threatening to leave as move as they want, it isn't a very winning team these days (and like Winnipeg, I believe we'd eventually get a team back if they left).

I think Calgary's best hope is to hold out until they one of the only/THE only city left standing for the 2026 games, and be in the position that the IOC needs us more than we need them.
 
berthesghost said:
Did citizens really want the Vancouver Olys? Because the Olys have been happening in most places thru sheer political strong arming for quite a while now.
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There was a referendum on it within the City of Vancouver. It passed (i.e. in favour of the Olys) but just barely, but the referendum was kind of bogus because there were a number of Olympic events held outside the city limits. So many people affected by the Olympics who lived outside Vancouver city boundaries did not get to vote. I think the results would have been different if the entire region had been included in the vote.

There was also a lot of questionable bookkeeping around the Vancouver Olympics. E.g. the IOC made it pretty clear that the Olys would not take place without improvements to the highway between Vancouver and Whistler where the alpine events were staged. So lo and behold the province of British Columbia magically decided to upgrade that highway and have it ready for 2010. But that expense was never charged to the Olympics - there's your political strongarming. If you see something claiming that the Vancouver Olympics were a financial success - the only reason that claim can be made is that a lot of infrastructure costs were paid for by different levels of government, not by the IOC. The last Olympics that pretty much everyone agrees was not a financial loss was the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary, and that was because Calgary used existing venues for a lot of the events, and also had way more volunteers than other Olympics did.
 
It's interesting to look back and see where the Winter Olympics has been held over the years:

1924 - Chamonix, France
1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
1932 - Lake Placid, U.S.
1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
1940 - Awarded to Sapporo, Japan CANCELLED due to WWII
1944 - Awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy CANCELLED due to WWII
1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
1952 - Oslo, Norway
1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1960 - Squaw Valley, U.S.
1964 - Innsbruck, Austria
1968 - Grenoble, France
1972 - Sapporo, Japan (finally gets the bid back ater 32 years)
1976 - Innsbruck, Austria
1980 - Lake Placid, U.S.
1984 - Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1988 - Calgary, Canada
1992 - Albertville, France
1994 - Lillehammer, Norway
1998 - Nagano, Japan
2002 - Salt Lake City, U.S.
2006 - Turin, Italy
2010 - Vancouver, Canada
2014 - Sochi, Russia
2018 - Pyeongchang, South Korea
2022 - Beijing, China
2026 - ?

So, the U.S. has hosted 4 times; France 3 times; Italy was awarded 3 times, but hosted only twice due to WWII; Japan was also awarded 3 times but hosted only twice because of war; Switzerland hosted 2 times; Canada 2 times; Austria 2 times; Norway 2 times; Germany 1 time; Yugoslavia 1 time; Russia 1 time; South Korea 1 time, and China will be hosting for the first time in 2022.

I wonder how or if the awarding of the Summer Olympics plays a role in the selection of a host city for the Winter Olympics? I'm sure quite a number of factors are involved in the selection process, with venue preparation and logistical concerns being key considerations in the final decision.

Looking at the history, it's not like Europe has exclusivity over the 'roots,' since the games were held on U.S. soil often in the early years. Also, Japan was awarded the games for 1940, but obviously WWII intervened and Japan did not receive another opportunity until 32 years later. The sport itself clearly has European roots, but also significant North American roots.

Based on where the Olympics has taken place previously and because Sion has been bidding a lot, I'd root for Sion, Switzerland first, and then Erzurum, Turkey or Graz, Austria for 2026. I would also root for Sweden (since they've never hosted), but not if the residents of Stockholm City are against it.

ETA: Great Britain played an important role in the development of the sport, as did Austria via Jackson Haines of the U.S., albeit the earliest roots of skating on ice evolved in northern Europe.
 
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aftershocks said:
I would also root for Sweden (since they've never hosted), but not if the residents of Stockholm City are against it.
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I'd hope they wouldn't just get input from Stockholm residents, since those in Åre, as well as Sigulda, Latvia should have a say in things too.

I absolutely love Stockholm, and would love to see the spotlight on such an amazing city, but I also agree that logistically it may not be the best pick.
 
I suspect the IOC will favour Stockholm as well, as it seemed for a while that Sweden had soured of Olympic bids for good after losing 6 consecutive Winter Olympic bids between 1984-2002 (Falun, Östersund or Gothenburg).
 
Grrr i don't want them in Sweden! It will ruin my fantasy of stephen gogolev and lajoie/lagha winning olympics gold on home ice. Remember how much fun everyone had in Whistler and Calgary?
 
It’s not over yet. There is a major push today led by Canadian Olympic athletes promoting a big “Yes” rally tomorrow morning. My Twitter feed is jammed with messages. And now this news release out late tonight:

https://www.calgary2026.ca/wp-conte...ary-2026-October-30-18-FINAL-CLEAN-2130-1.pdf

If they can get a funding deal worked out with the Feds than I would support it. Calgary desperately needs the jobs that would be created and the boost to their economy and they have already proven they know how to run a successful Olympics.
 
CBC now reporting they have a deal pending Calgary City Council approval which I expect they will get. Next step will be the referendum.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/olympic-funding-agreement-reached-1.4885230

“The federal and provincial governments have reached a funding proposal agreement that would mean the public dollars are in place to fund the 2026 Winter Olympics in Calgary, if a hesitant city council agrees to sign on.”
 
Yeah, I figured this was a ploy on the part of the city to force the hand of the other levels of government.

Maybe they should have Kaetlyn and other Albertan Olympians do an ad prior to the plebiscite.
 
A slim majority was in support of the Olympic bid as of August, with 53% backing the bid according to a city-commissioned poll. I haven’t found any recent polling. I would assume the bid committee will flood the city with Olympians over the next 13 days to help drive up support. Whether that works, I don’t know. Selfishly I’d love to see Calgary host again since it would mean an Olympics in a convenient time-zone, though if it doesn’t happen, that makes a US-hosted Olympics more likely in 2030 (even 2026 isn’t out of the question if Calgary falls through and the other two bids from Sweden and Italy don’t get the required government guarantees... the IOC may look to the US - possibly SLC - as a backup option).
 
Aaron W said:
A slim majority was in support of the Olympic bid as of August, with 53% backing the bid according to a city-commissioned poll. I haven’t found any recent polling. I would assume the bid committee will flood the city with Olympians over the next 13 days to help drive up support. Whether that works, I don’t know. Selfishly I’d love to see Calgary host again since it would mean an Olympics in a convenient time-zone, though if it doesn’t happen, that makes a US-hosted Olympics more likely in 2030 (even 2026 isn’t out of the question if Calgary falls through and the other two bids from Sweden and Italy don’t get the required government guarantees... the IOC may look to the US - possibly SLC - as a backup option).
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In the current climate in the US I don't think they should be awarded a host for anything.Too dangerous for the rest of the world.
 
Political parties in power change, particularly over the course of 8-12 years. So I don’t think the IOC would be too concerned. They already gave the US the 2028 Summer Olympics despite the detestable state of current affairs here. FWIW, even Canada isn’t immune to future issues. The fact the miserably pompous Doug Ford is Ontario premier is quite disappointing and potentially points to further threats for the Federal Elections next year. And now Quebec has anti-immigration Legault. For all we know, Canada could end up with PM Scheer next year.
 
Post-9/11 security costs have been a problem for a while, especially, in terms of driving up the overall cost of hosting the Games.

I expect the IOC will focus on trying to make the Italian bid work in the immediate future (the Swedish one seems like a zombie).

The fallback would probably be breaking up the Games somewhat to allow them to be distributed more widely between pre-existing venues (which would undeniably take away something for spectators and attending athletes, though not impact at all how most people watch the Games).
 
Colonel Green said:
The fallback would probably be breaking up the Games somewhat to allow them to be distributed more widely between pre-existing venues (which would undeniably take away something for spectators and attending athletes, though not impact at all how most people watch the Games).
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Some sports are like that in the olys now. The cost of holding them is getting prohibitive. One way to off-set the cost is to break up the venues.
 
WildRose said:
Results have been announced. It wasn’t even close - Calgary is out.
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I am perfectly fine with going whatever the majority wants on issues like this, but after all the news of this being such a blowout, I just found out that the NO side garnered 56% of the vote. Certainly significant, but no blow out.

I remember when Vancouver's YES side got 64% vote and we got plenty of people saying that was not good enough. IMO, having Vancouverites 64% agree on anything is a blowout. I bet you wouldn't get 64% of Vancouverites being able to agree that real estate there is expensive.
 
wustfan said:
I wonder what happens, if no one wants it.
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The IOC needs to start asking itself this question. Clearly its business model is broken. I understand the need for security etc. but the days of the IOC rolling into town and expecting to be treated like royalty on a two-week getaway - it isn't sustainable any more. (When I say the IOC I mean the IOC itself. )

The numbers of potential host cities who have either declined to bid or who have developed a proposal and then dropped out should be a giant wake up call.
 
This could have very well been the last gasp as far as Calgary is concerned in being a continual mainstay on the international Winter World Cup/World Championship calendar. Calgary (and area) will be pretty busy in 2018-19 with sliding sports, biathlon, long track speed skating, freestyle ski, and snowboard all having World Cup (or World Championship) events (short track took place last week). Sliding sports and long track infrastructure appear to be the most immediate at risk, imo.
 
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