WASATCH MOUNTAIN STATE PARK -- While Olympic organizers race toward a deadline for the 2002 Winter Games, the Soldier Hollow Legacy Committee is looking beyond the finish line.
The committee, made up of local and state officials and former Olympians, has been meeting for about a year to come up with a way to turn the biathlon and cross-country skiing venue -- soon to be under construction at Wasatch Mountain State Park's Soldier Hollow -- into a world-class training and competition center.The focus is much more than simply the 1,000 days before the Olympics, said State Parks director Courtland Nelson. "It's what the legacy will be 1,000 days after the Olympics."
When the Games are over, organizers hope the cross-country and skiing venue will become more than just a treasured memory.
The committee envisions Soldier Hollow will be used by everyone from elite athletes to weekend novices. In the summer, the 23 kilometers of trails could be turned into hiking and equestrian trails. (There are plans for a permanent snow-making system on at least five kilometers of trails.)
The barrier? Money.
Nelson said state parks can't be saddled with the cost of maintaining it. He urged the group recently to form a nonprofit corporation to help finance a year-round facility.
Committee members took his advice to heart. They will meet 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Wasatch Mountain State Park Clubhouse to discuss the process of establishing a nonprofit group.
It will be expensive -- about $200,000 a year simply to maintain the course during the winter, said John Aalberg, a two-time U.S. Olympian and director of cross-country for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
A nonprofit foundation is a good way to seek donations, explained Nancy Devenport, a state parks development coordinator.
"People don't want to give to state government because they don't know what their donations are being used for. And a lot of foundations and corporations won't give to local entitites," Devenport said. The most successful "friends" groups that form to raise money for specific recreational areas are those that have a dedicated board of directors, she added.
SLOC is set to spend $21.4 million building Soldier Hollow ski trails and making other preparations for the Olympics. (There's another $1.3 million set aside for the Paralympics.) Still, that's a mere pittance of what it cost organizers in Nagano, Japan -- $80 million -- to build two separate courses for the cross-country and biathlon events during the 1998 Winter Games, noted Aalberg.
The committee also will seek the state's help.
Lawmakers agreed in 1994 to sell the facilities to SLOC for the $59 million that taxpayers spent to build them, plus another $40 million to keep them open after the Olympics. The facilities would be turned over to another private entity, the Utah Athletic Foundation, which will have control of the $40 million.
The committee believes Soldier Hollow is entitled to the money even though ownership would remain with the state. And it doesn't think $40 million is enough since it will be shared with other facilities.
"We need to make sure that money is adequate," said Steve Roberts, the legislative liaison for the state parks.
There are other financial concerns.
Lyle Nelson, a four-time U.S. Olympian and SLOC's biathlon manager, tried to reassure the group that cuts in the $1.45 billion Games budget won't likely impact pre-Olympic events at Soldier Hollow.
Though SLOC is under pressure to "tighten belts," Nelson said, "we've been told the sports budget will not be impaired."
Wasatch County Olympic coordinator Robert Mathis wasn't entirely convinced.
"I wouldn't underestimate the pressure," Mathis said. "We have real reason to be concerned."
It's important that Soldier Hollow be given state financial support because it's one of the few Olympic sites that would be used by the public, said Bill Spencer, a technical committee member with the International Biathlon Union who competed in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.
"This is a lifetime sport," he said.
That's why it's important to make sure Soldier Hollow stays busy, Aalberg said.
"We want to have youth programs," Aalberg said. There's no reason to spend millions to develop the cross-country and biathlon venue only to get kids all excited about the sport, then watch Soldier Hollow, and Olympic dreams, die.