Think Olympics and Paris. What do you see?
Athletes sailing down the Seine River during the unique Opening Ceremony? Beach volleyball competitions in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower? Marathoners racing by iconic landmarks like the palace of Versailles?
Bet ice hockey didn’t come to mind.
Paris, the site of the 2024 Summer Games, may once again be hosting Olympic events, this time during the winter version of the Olympics and Paralympics that follow for athletes with disabilities.
The French Alps are the host of the world’s next Winter Games, in 2030. Events, however, were supposed to be split, with snow sports in France’s mountains to the north and ice sports in Nice, located along the French Riviera to the south.
But Nice’s new far-right mayor, Eric Ciotti, opposes plans to turn the city’s main soccer stadium into a temporary arena for men’s ice hockey, citing the cost of displacing Nice’s top-tier soccer team that would be playing at the same time, the French newspaper Le Monde reported.
Ciotti, elected in March, has also called for relocating other Olympic venues in Nice. A report from a Nice news site, Nice Premium, said the coastal city will continue to host figure skating, curling and women’s ice hockey events.
Last week, France’s sports minister, Marina Ferrari, told The Associated Press that she’s working with 2030 Games organizers to figure out if there’s someplace else that ice hockey competitions could be held.
“Our responsibility now is to begin preparing alternative scenarios in case we encounter difficulties,” Ferrari said Thursday. “At this point we are exploring all options, I could not be clearer.”
Earlier last week, 2030 Games organizers apparently ruled out two other Nice stadiums, noting each had “limitations” to serving as a temporary ice hockey venue, “particularly regarding their exceptionally high cost and overall impact,” NBC Sports reported.
Enter Paris.
The Paris Entertainment Company, which operates the Adidas Arena and Accor Arena in the French capital, told The Associated Press it has submitted a bid to host ice hockey in 2030. Both arenas were used as competition venues during the 2024 Summer Games.
Paris, though, isn’t the only French city vying to host ice hockey. Lyon was mentioned as another possibility in a statement by the organizing committee for the 2030 Games, according to a translation posted by NBC Sports.
“In keeping with a philosophy of resource efficiency and budgetary optimization, the (committee) has decided to broaden the scope of its investigations by exploring the possibility of utilizing existing facilities in other major metropolitan areas — such as Lyon or Paris,” it said.
Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region that includes Nice, told Nice Premium that 2030 organizers have been asked “to contact Marseille, Gap, Grenoble, Albertville, and of course Lyon, to see if they could respond” quickly.
The updated list of venues is expected to be presented to the International Olympic Committee in June for approval. Moving men’s ice hockey to a new part of France would further spread out the 2030 Games, already similar in scope to those held earlier this year in Milan Cortina, Italy.