PARK CITY — U.S. Olympic Committee leaders Monday didn't rule out bidding for the 2026 Winter Games but said if they decide to go forward in the coming year, Salt Lake would face both national and international competition.

"Other things being equal, I think we’d love to host the Winter Games in the United States," USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said during the opening news conference at the Team USA Media Summit being held in Canyons Village at Park City Mountain Resort.

Blackmun said the USOC has not set up a bid process for the next Winter Games to be awarded by the International Olympic Committee but expects to start discussions at next month's board meeting.

Salt Lake, host of the 2002 Winter Games, could end up competing against Denver, the Reno-Tahoe area and other American cities in what Blackmun called the IOC's "quiet information phase" of bidding that begins at the end of September.

"As to who might have a leg up in that competition, I think we honestly haven’t evaluated or assessed it at all. We’re grateful we have multiple cities that are interested in looking at it," he said.

USOC Chairman Larry Probst, who serves on the IOC, said potential international competitors already are surfacing for 2026, including Innsbruck, Austria; Sion, Switzerland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Calgary, Canada.

Probst said recent statements by IOC President Thomas Bach about returning the Winter Games to a more "traditional" location sounds like "code for Europe or North America."

Probst said he expects "a few very high quality locations in the mix" for 2026. Still, the USOC is "definitely interested in hosting the Winter Games in the United States at some point in time," he said.

The 2018 Winter Games are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2022 Winter Games are returning to Beijing, which hosted the Summer Games just seven years ago, after few cities expressed interest.

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Salt Lake 2026? Another Winter Olympics looking more likely

With Los Angeles set to be awarded the 2028 Summer Games by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday, longtime supporters of bringing another Winter Games to Salt Lake City say it could happen as soon as 2026.

Earlier this year, the IOC expanded the informal invitation phase of the Winter Games bidding process to a year to counter what Bach said had become "too expensive and too onerous for this new political reality."

A big consideration is the impact another bid could have on Los Angeles as host of the 2028 Summer Games. The IOC recently took the unusual step of awarding two Summer Games at the same time — 2024 to Paris and 2028 to L.A.

Blackmun said the effect on marketing and promoting the Los Angeles Games could make it difficult to bid for 2026, and any decision about 2026 will be made in consultation with L.A.

Asked about the impact of Salt Lake bid, LA28 spokesman Jeff Millman said the 2002 Winter Games "were a wonderful celebration for our nation and the world, and we know the United States would again be a great host for future Winter Games."

Organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics are "enthusiastic supporters" of the Olympic and Paralympic movements, including the Winter Games, Millman said, and "will look forward to discussing a winter bid with the USOC if they choose to consider it."

Patrick Sandusky, the USOC's chief external affairs officer, said it might be too soon to be talking about going after another Games.

"We were bidding for the Summer Games since 2003, and it's been, like, 15 days since we won an Olympics," Sandusky said. "So there might be little more time to come before we get to that point."

Ed Hula, editor of the international Olympic news source Around the Rings, said the USOC is likely trying to appear gracious, not greedy.

"Being humble is part of bidding for the Olympics these days," Hula said.

For the USOC to say, "'We've just gotten the L.A. Olympics for 2028, and now we’re going to go for the Winter Olympics in 2026,' that would probably seem to be a little bit aggressive, a little selfish," he said.

However, Hula said the acknowledgement by Blackmun and particularly Probst of interest in a Winter Games in the United States is a big step.

"It's the first time (Probst's) been able to say that since he’s been elected chairman in 2008 because they have been bidding for the Summer Olympics," Hula said. "It's clear that some door has been opened at the USOC to begin consideration."

Fraser Bullock, chief operating officer of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, said he expects the USOC to be "very fair" to all the American cities interested in bidding for 2026.

"I support that 100 percent," Bullock said, "because any potential bid city needs to win the right to bid on behalf of the United States on its own merits. We think we’re positioned particularly well."

Bullock, who has remained active with both the USOC and IOC since 2002, said with the needed competition and other infrastructure already in place, Salt Lake could host an Olympics with a "hypersensitivity to cost."

He said it's likely time for Utah leaders to decide whether to form an exploratory bid committee, as was done in 2012 when Salt Lake tried unsuccessfully to get the USOC to bid for the 2022 Winter Games.

Bullock said there's plenty of enthusiasm for another bid.

"I believe it’s a wonderfully exciting time," he said, "because in 2002, Utah showed the world how to host an Olympic Games. Everyone loved the Games, and everyone asks me, 'When are we going to host again?'"

Members of Team USA were wondering that, too.

"There's been talk about Salt Lake City again and how that would work," said skier Mikaela Shiffrin, a 2014 Olympic gold medalist. "It’s, I think, a dream that we’re almost like afraid to say but thinking about. It would be amazing."

Shiffrin said nothing compares to competing in front of a hometown — or home country — crowd, "knowing that they’re there supporting you. You feel the love. You feel the extended family, the sort of sense of unity we don’t normally get."

Snowboarder Kelly Clark, a four-time Olympian who won gold in 2002, said the Salt Lake Games helped inspire a new generation of American athletes to dream big.

"That’s what set things in motion for some of these younger athletes. I think having an Olympics on home soil really does something for the next generation that watches it," Clark said. "It becomes possible."

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