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- Utah lawmakers propose HB321, requiring state approval for the 2034 Winter Games director.
- Fraser Bullock indicates the bill's language will be updated for clarity soon.
- The state guarantees the Games' finances, with a $4 billion budget from private sources.
SALT LAKE CITY — Should the head of the 2034 Winter Games have to be approved by Utah's governor and legislative leaders?
A new bill, HB321, spells out that the state's elected executive and legislative branch leaders would need to sign off on whoever is "proposed to serve as a director" for the yet to be announced organizing committee responsible for putting on the privately funded event.
But the bid leader expected to helm the organizing committee said that portion of the bill will change.
"More clarity is coming soon," said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games behind the bid. Rather than describing the bill as in flux, he said "more accurate would be to say the language in the bill needs to be updated."
Bullock said the state's role will become clear when the details of who will run the state's next Olympics are made public, providing "a comprehensive view of the OCOG (organizing committee for the Olympic Games) structure and formation."
That's expected in the coming weeks, he said.
Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, are involved in putting together the organizing committee, along with U.S. and international Olympic officials.
Rep. Jon Hawkins, the bill's sponsor and the House chairman of the Utah Legislature's Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee set up to oversee the Games, said "the language is still being worked out."
Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, did not address why the bill was drafted to give state leaders authority over who heads the organizing committee. Asked about that changing, he said, "I don't know where it will land at this point."
The explanation in the bill is that due to "the potential for multiple impacts on the state in relation to (the) hosting of the (G)ames, the state has an interest in the activities and performance of the host committee."
The bill also says "the state may be required to expend public resources of finances" for a second Winter Games. The budget for hosting, expected to add up to $4 billion, is set to come from private sources, largely the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorships and tickets.
But it's the state that serves as the ultimate guarantor of the Games. When the Olympics were awarded by the International Olympic Committee last July, Cox signed the host contract on behalf of the state, pledging taxpayers would pick up any shortfall.
The state did the same for the 2002 Winter Games, even though Salt Lake City's mayor signed that contract. Those Olympics made a profit, repaying state funds used to build competition venues and establishing an endowment to help keep them running.
In recent years, some $92 million has been appropriated by the Legislature for Olympic venues.
The 2002 Winter Games were run by former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, who was recruited by state leaders to take over the organizing committee amid a global scandal surrounding a million dollars in cash and gift Utah bidders gave to IOC members.
Romney was ultimately named to the top job by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, known as SLOC. Started as an extension of the 2002 bid committee, it was overhauled in the scandal and included representatives of the governor and other elected officials.
This year's bill, which has not yet been assigned to a committee for a hearing, follows legislation about the state's role in another Olympics that was passed in 2023, when Utah was still bidding to host either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Games.
The Legislature's Olympic oversight committee, created by the earlier legislation, would review any financial obligation involving the state undertaken by Games organizers, as well as receive updates at least twice yearly.
