IOC advances Salt Lake City to next stage of bidding process for the Winter Games. Read more
Salt Lake City is closer than ever to hosting another Olympics.
Utah is the only contender to host the 2034 Winter Games after the International Olympic Committee Executive Board advanced the bid to the next stage of the new, less formal selection process.
A bid from France for the 2030 Winter Games was also moved into what the IOC calls targeted dialogue, where the details of a future Olympics including a host contract are negotiated.
A final vote on the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games is expected next year, when the full membership of the Switzerland-based IOC meets ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
The news was celebrated with a huge cheer from a crowd gathered on the steps of the Salt Lake City-County Building by bid officials, including Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.
The effort to bring the Olympics back to Salt Lake City, site of the 2002 Winter Games, has been underway for more than a decade. Five years ago, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee named the Utah capital the nation’s choice for a future Winter Games.
Salt Lake City’s submitted a bid to host in either 2030 or 2034, but the preference has been for the later date to avoid competing for domestic sponsorship revenue with the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
