Members of the Legislature's Sports Oversight Committee have agreed not to recommend any action on Olympic issues next session, after being warned any dissension could hurt Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
There is a growing list of proposed legislation dealing with the state's investment in Olympic facilities, including Gov. Mike Leavitt's plan to pay off any debts left by a Winter Games with the government's share of revenues.Provo officials already have said they'll be there when the legislative session begins in January to ask lawmakers for $3 million toward a new Olympic ice rink. And there's a move to cap Olympic spending at $59 million.
But Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee President Tom Welch asked the lawmakers and others on the oversight committee not to do anything until after the International Olympic Committee selects the site of the 2002 Winter Games next June.
"It's really important for you as legislators to recognize that we're in the midst of a very competitive international campaign. This is not a slam dunk," Welch told the committee.
He predicted the city chosen by the IOC will win by only four or five votes. "I think that city will be Salt Lake . . . if we put on the very best campaign we can," he said, calling for lawmakers to show unity with the bid effort.
"Recognizing the unified face we ought to put on this campaign to maximize the chances of our success, we would hope that what we would not create is any kind of controversy in the Legislature," Welch said.
He requested that they trust the business people and others behind the bid. "I'm hopeful, that as leaders in this community, you'll speak and say, `Not only will we go forward, we'll go forward in a businesslike manner,' " he said.
Because of the prudent planning going into the proposed Winter Games budget, the governor's debt plan may not be necessary, Welch said. "Maybe it's an issue that needs to be decided today. Maybe it's an issue that doesn't even need to be decided next year."
A spokeswoman for Leavitt, Vicki Varela, said the governor won't propose Olympics legislation next session.
"We agree with Tom Welch that there's no need to create questions internationally by trying to push legislation," Varela said Friday.
As for the Provo area ice rink, Welch promised the bid committee would come up with the $3 million for it if the Olympics come to Salt Lake City - but not until 1999. He also said he would endorse spending state money for the project.
If the Winter Games are awarded to Salt Lake City, the bid committee has agreed to buy the Olympic facilities taxpayers have built at cost, some $62 million with the Provo area ice rink, and set up a $40 million foundation to run them.
Not all legislation is bad for the bid, however. Welch did suggest a resolution supporting Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games would be appreciated. Committee members agreed to recommend that and nothing more.
Even Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, who had told Welch earlier that Utah Valley residents wanted their fair share of Olympic spending, was soon promising to round up support for the resolution.
It helped that Welch raised the specter of Salt Lake City losing its second consecutive bid for the Winter Games, something he rarely does in public. In fact, he said that delaying action on proposed Olympic legislation would help even if the bid was lost.
"If we are not successful . . . then we are faced with the challenge and charge together to find a way that we make Utah the strongest winter sports facility in the world," Welch said.
"It's true that we (wouldn't) have the Olympics to drive it and that revenue source in place that makes everything so much easier, and that we're going to have to come with other alternatives to do that. We have to maintain maximum flexibility," he said.
After leaving the meeting, Welch said it would "not necessarily' take more money from the state to run the Olympic facilities being built, which include ski jumps, a speed-skating oval and a bobsled and luge run.
"If we don't have the revenues, they will have to be user-driven," possibly operating on a reduced schedule with the help of at least some members of the bid committee, he told a reporter.
Oversight committee members wrapped up their meeting by discussing how much better they felt about the bid effort after Welch's rare appearance before them. Several said they were more comfortable with the bid.
"Don't get too comfortable," advised Sen. Alarik Myrin, R-Altamont, oversight committee co-chairman. He said the committee would draft another piece of legislation for next session: a bill clarifying their authority.
Later Thursday, 10 or so members of the Libertarian Party marched in front of the Olympic countdown sign on 400 South to protest the Winter Games bid. Their concerns included the use of tax dollars for religious worship of the human body.