Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed there are no concerns about Utah's 2034 Winter Games.
- Bach emphasized there's no rush for Utah's organizing committee to form, despite a December deadline.
SALT LAKE CITY — International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was succinct in addressing questions Thursday about whether Utah's 2034 Winter Games came up during the leadership's final meetings of the year or if there was any concern an organizing committee for the state's next Olympics has yet to be formed.
"To the first question, no. To the second question, no," a smiling Bach responded from the IOC's Swiss headquarters during a virtual news conference following the end of three days of executive board meetings that included updates on the other upcoming Olympics, including the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.
"There was neither discussions nor are there concerns," said the Olympic committee leader who's set to step down in mid-2025. With nearly a decade to go before Utah hosts another Winter Games, Bach suggested there's no reason to worry even though there's a Dec. 24 deadline for putting together the committee responsible for what's expected to add up to a $4 billion event.
"Ten years away from these Games, if I would start to be concerned about an organizing committee maybe formed a month later," Bach said that wouldn't leave him enough time "to address any other issues, I think. There would be so many. No, no concern."
The International Olympic Committee named Utah the 2034 host and tapped the French Alps for 2030 in Paris on July 24, just before the start of the 2024 Summer Games. The host contract signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on behalf of the state calls for an organizing committee to be in place within five months.
The governor, along with legislative leaders, has been meeting with leaders of the private Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games behind the successful bid, but little has been said publicly about the effort. Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the bid committee, has said "daily progress" is being made.
"We're putting a lot of work into this," Bullock said recently. "We know we have a deadline, but we don't want to rush and maybe make a mistake or something like that. We'd rather be methodical and thoughtful to get to the right point where everybody feels comfortable."
Bach said IOC leaders are monitoring the collapse of the French government, after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was ousted in the country's first no-confidence vote since 1962. French Alps bidders have had difficulties securing all of the needed financial guarantees from France's government.
"Concerning the political turmoil in France, we are obviously talking to the regions " that would host Olympic events in 2030 as well as other French officials, the IOC president said, according to a translation of his answer in French. "We are going to assess whether or not this is going to have an impact on the organizing of the Games."
He said that "for the time being, we are not worried because of the fact that we have seen the support demonstrated by a very large majority in France to the 2030 Games." Bach also cited a new study from the Bank of France showing "positive tax and economic impact of the Paris 2024 Olympics. That is why, as far as we're concerned, the current situation has not changed."
