Salt Lake City Approved as 2034 Winter Olympic Host

PARIS — There are no more ifs, ands or buts needed because years of presentations, meetings with stakeholders and rallying of public support came to a culmination for the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games on Wednesday morning.

Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games after the International Olympic Committee membership approved the Executive Board’s recommendations, returning the Winter Games to Utah and the United States for the first time since 2002.

The vote was 83 yes and six no with six abstentions in the early morning hours of Pioneer Day in Utah, the state’s holiday. The vote was made after SLC-UT 2034 President and Chief Executive Officer Fraser Bullock led a seven-person presentation team that highlighted the group’s vision of elevating sport, communities and the Games experience.

“It feels like a burden has been lifted because we have a Games,” Bullock said. “We get to host the world and now we know it’s a real thing and we can start our plans working toward them. It’s awesome.”

What would ordinarily have been a smooth vote was instead dragged out for nearly an hour longer than scheduled after multiple IOC members used the opportunity to lambast the United States Anti-Doping Agency in a show of support for the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has come under heavy criticism from U.S. lawmakers in the wake of reports of Chinese swimmers competing at the Tokyo Games in 2021 even after testing positive for doping.

The IOC even put in a note in the host city contract that it can terminate the agreement “in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency … is not fully respected or if the application of the world anti-doping code is hindered or undermined.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted Chinese explanations for the tests and U.S. officials are now investigating that decision under an anti-conspiracy law passed after the Russian doping scandal at the Sochi Winter Games. The IOC and WADA lobbied against the law, known as the Rodchenkov Act, which gives U.S. federal agencies wide jurisdiction of doping enforcement worldwide.

“You have nothing to do with this,” Bach told the SLC presenters after they sat through each complaint. “It is very unfortunate. I am sorry for you and for us,” Bach said, calling the presentation “brilliant.”

After the lengthy delay for a vote while members excoriated USADA and got its WADA support on the official record, the actual vote itself took very little time before Bach made Salt Lake’s host duties official.

“I cried,” said Catherine Raney-Norman, the SLC-Utah Board Chair. “I’m not gonna say I didn’t cry. I think there was emotion for all of us. We have put our hearts into this.”

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games has been in targeted dialogue with the IOC since November 2023. Hosting the Olympic Games in 2034 will make Salt Lake City the fifth city to host the Winter Games twice, joining Lake Placid, New York (1932 and 1980); St. Moritz, Switzerland (1928 and 1948); Innsbruck, Austria (1964 and 1976) and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, which hosted the 1956 Games and will co-host the 2026 Games with Milan.

Hosting the 2034 Games will also be the second Games, Summer or Winter, in a six-year span in the United States with Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Summer Games as the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee has been promoting the next decade as one of the most transformative in its history.

An operating budget of $2.83 billion in 2034 values has been established as part of the Future Host Questionnaire that was submitted in February. The operating budget is part of an overall $3.99 billion budget that includes revenue sharing with the USOPC, sponsorship fulfillment, sales costs and legacy funding. Organizers also hope to leave $260 million in legacy funding for sport and youth programs and organizations including the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, which was set up originally with surplus revenues from the 2002 Games, and the Utah Sports Commission.

“This means a continuation of a living legacy that we’ve been creating as a community since 2002,” said Colin Hilton, president and chief executive officer of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. “It provides the means to keep it going for generations to come.”

SLC-Utah organizers project a target of $1.8 billion in domestic sponsorship plus a $1.19 billion in projected ticketing and hospitality revenue, which organizers said in the presentation is “foundational to Games success and allows (organizers) to avoid state and local funding.” The IOC would make a projected $751 million financial contribution to the Games as well.

The IOC’s earlier feasibility study on the Salt Lake bid praised its 2002 legacy, including 100 percent use of existing venues that were used in 2002 and still maintained with all venues within an hour of the athlete village at the University of Utah. The 2034 venue plan includes three Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation venues and no new venue construction even with an anticipated 40% increase in events.

“It’s the end of a journey in terms of getting the Games back again, but it will open up more opportunities and more things for us as we look forward to it,” Utah Sports Commission President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Robbins said.

The venue plan features resorts including Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort in Park City, along with Snowbasin near Ogden. Indoor facilities include the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, home to the NBA’s Utah Jazz and NHL’s Utah Hockey Club; Maverik Center in West Valley City, home to the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies; and Peaks Ice Arena in Provo. Opening and Closing ceremonies are proposed at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the home of University of Utah football and site of the Ceremonies in 2002.

A proposed downtown location for big air is Block 85, the site of the Medals Plaza in 2002. Another new proposed competition venue is the Salt Palace Convention Center for Olympic curling and Paralympic wheelchair curling. SLC-UT made the venue selection in concert with World Curling and will feature a temporary curling ice sheet and seating for 6,500 spectators. The Salt Palace venue will also house the Main Media Center.

Moving curling to the Salt Palace would be a change from 2002 when the sport was at the Weber County Ice Sheet in Ogden. Alpine skiing at Snowbasin in Huntsville would be another change from 2002 when events were held at the Deer Valley and Park City resorts. Primary housing for Games athletes and team officials will be in the University of Utah Athletes’ Village.

For the first time, organizers would provide an Athletes Family Village to elevate the athletes’ Games experience and better support families of athletes, allowing them the chance to have affordable housing, transportation and tickets to watch their children participate. The initiative is a project of SLC-UT 2034 Chief of Athlete Experience Lindsey Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist. In addition to the Athlete Village at the University of Utah, high elevation housing will be provided to cross-country and biathlon teams near the Soldier Hollow venue.

“It was probably the biggest speech I’ve ever given in my life,” said Vonn, who was one of the SLC-Utah presenters. She later added “I love the Olympics. We love the Olympics. And my family loves the Olympics. For me, to be able to include families in the Olympics and bring the Athletes Family Village to the Games, which is a first ever — which blows my mind — for me to have the opportunity to do that makes me very emotional.”

The Salt Lake bid wanted to emphasize its readiness to the IOC with more than just venue plans and budgets. It has already secured over 21,000 hotel rooms for the 2034 Games with contracted lodging in 11 Utah counties plus Wyoming. While both the IOC leadership and SLC-Utah leaders have been hedging with their language when talking about the bid, the Future Host Commission’s visit to Salt Lake City in April finished with a flourish of compliments that left no doubt to Wednesday’s eventual outcome.

“It’s really a dream,” U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and Chief Executive Officer Sophie Goldschmidt. “I don’t there there’s any other catalyst for an NGB or our athletes quite like having a Winter Games. It’s sort of been in the offing for a few months but to actually now have it confirmed, I’m beyond excited for our organization and all of our sports.”