Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- The Utah bid committee concluded its final meeting for the 2034 Winter Games.
- Gov. Spencer Cox and other leaders emphasized Utah's strengths and global impact potential.
- The organizing committee's leadership will be announced next year, with Fraser Bullock's role still under discussion.
SALT LAKE CITY — There was no shortage of emotion at the final meeting of the bid committee that brought the 2034 Winter Games to Utah.
"You all believed in us. You believe in the athletes. You believe in the youth coming up. And that's why we have a future Games coming back here to Utah again," a teary Catherine Raney Norman, the chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, told the roomful of community, political and sports leaders gathered Wednesday evening at The Leonardo museum.
The four-time Olympic speedskater singled out the Utah-based athletes who'd participated in the successful bid, including champion ice skater Nathan Chen, before moving on to thanking the elected officials for putting their "trust in us. You let us carry hopes and dreams and we're going to continue to do that. We're going to make Utah very proud."
Gov. Spencer Cox, part of the presentation to International Olympic Committee members in Paris before their July 24 vote securing a second Olympics for Utah, spoke of the sacrifices made over many years "to get us to this point. To do something big. Something bigger than each of us. This is something bigger than even our state, something that will unite the world in powerful ways."
Both Cox and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, promised Utah's unique strengths will be showcased by the 2034 Olympics and Paralympics. Schultz recalled being told that when the state hosted the 2002 Winter Games, it was Utah that needed the exposure to the world.
"I think it's a little bit different today. Utah may not need the Olympics, but I really think that the world needs Utah," the speaker said, adding he has "no doubt the 2034 Olympics are going to be the best ever."
The bid committee's president and CEO, Fraser Bullock, declared the final price tag for the privately funded bid was $3.9 million. Motions were passed thanking those behind the bid first dreamed up shortly after the 2002 Winter Games ended and formally launched in 2012.
But what wasn't discussed during the public portion of the meeting is who's going to be in charge of organizing the 2034 Games. Monday, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee leaders told reporters the organizing committee would not be announced until early next year despite a Christmas Eve deadline in the IOC's host contract. That deadline has been extended into the new year.
Who is going to run Utah's next Olympics?
After the bid committee meeting, the governor told the Deseret News keeping Bullock, who's 69, in charge while setting up a successor is "still the plan. This will be a long-term thing as we work together and the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games is going to be awesome. Everybody is going to be so excited. I can't wait to tell you who's on there."
Cox said he'll be on the organizing committee, but declined to provide any other names. The state is playing a big part in putting together the organizing committee because it's the governor who signed the host contract with the International Olympic Committee, guaranteeing Utah taxpayers will cover any shortfalls in what will add up to a $4 billion budget for staging the Games.
The bid committee's vice chair, Larry H. Miller Company CEO Steve Starks, said after the meeting that Bullock's successor is "yet to be determined." Starks, an advisor to the governor on the Olympics, said he's already agreed to be part of the organizing committee.
"The spirit of everybody's intent here is that we have multiple people ready to go. It's a nine-year effort so we have Fraser and his expertise and we have other people like Cat (Raney Norman ), myself and others that have been heavily involved that I think can play a meaningful role now and into the future. I think specific roles and all of that will be announced later," Starks said.
'Really, really nicely positioned'
Identifying the future leader "should be a rigorous process that evaluates qualifications and needs at the time," he said, adding, "I don't think anybody here would try to appoint a leader for the next decade. I think what we want to do is set up a process to ensure that we have decision making and we've prepared people to step into whatever role they're asked to."
Schultz told the Deseret News the state is blessed to have "so many great, amazing leaders" ready to step up to run the Olympics. "It's hard to predict what would happen in the future but I think creating a process and a board to where there can be a smooth transition when that time happens (is needed). Who knows when that takes place."
The speaker said, "Absolutely, I think we'll see new faces and new blood coming in and being part of it."
The U.S. Olympics and Paralympics Committee will be part of organizing Utah's next Olympics, its CEO, Sarah Hirshland, told reporters Monday.
"We're a partner and a party in many of these agreements," Hirshland said, referring to the contracts related to hosting the Games. "We will play an active role within the governing structure of the organizing committee, as mandated and encouraged by the IOC and the IPC (International Paralympic Committee)."
When it comes to who'll serve on the organizing committee, she said, "It will be very important to have USOPC leadership and representatives, as we work, obviously, on behalf of the movement in the United States; leadership from Utah at every level, at the state level and the local city and county levels. The execution will have massive overlap across communities."
A strong athlete voice is needed, Hirshland said, and "you want to have individuals who have experience with these Games. I think we have the benefit of ensuring that given the recency of the 2002 Games and how many individuals in Salt Lake were in and did participate in that process. So I think we're really, really nicely positioned."
