The sparsely furnished downtown Salt Lake City offices recently donated to organizers of Utah’s next Winter Games, in 2034, don’t look like the headquarters for a $4 billion enterprise that will focus the world’s attention on the Beehive State.
There’s not even signs yet on any of the multiple doors in the oddly configured ground-floor space from the University of Utah that features a cavernous, unfinished area, although one of two hallway conference rooms had already been labeled, “Bobsled.”
But as Utah marks the one-year anniversary of the bid award, that portion of the City Centre building has become home base to the dozen or so volunteers, consultants and employees of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
“This feels like a startup,” said Brad Wilson, the former Utah House speaker named CEO of the organizing committee in February. His office contains just a few personal items from his years at the state Capitol like a framed miniature historic American flag, but nothing Olympic-related.
In a nearby office, Darren Hughes, vice president of operations and planning, has just brought in his collection of stuffed toy mascots from the previous Olympics he’s worked for over the years, starting with Utah’s 2002 Winter Games.
Tucked into a glass cabinet are a pair of bright red, hat-shaped “Phryges” from the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where the International Olympic Committee announced Utah would host a second Winter Games after more than a decade of bidding.
The big-eyed collectibles appear to be the office’s only reminder of the excitement of Paris for the Utahns who traveled there for the decision, as well as those who gathered at Washington Square for a celebration in the early morning hours.
Remember when Utah’s next Olympics were awarded in Paris?
Utah’s bid team, which included Gov. Spencer Cox and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, jumped for joy when then-IOC President Thomas Bach announced the Games were returning to the Beehive State.
While in Paris, Utahns relished their role as a future Olympic host, with first lady Abby Cox helping to rally hundreds of young athletes from around the world at a Paris park, and bid leaders attending an exclusive formal dinner held by Bach at the famed Louvre museum.
Others spent time behind the scenes of the Paris Games, taking notes for 2034 on everything from free neighborhood “live sites” set up so locals could be part of the festivities, to the money-making lavish ticket packages enjoyed by the well-off.
Marring the moment was the prolonged discussion among IOC members before the vote about concerns raised by the U.S. government recently launching an investigation into Chinese doping allegations rather than accepting the findings of the Canadian-based World Anti Doping Agency.
The controversy had sparked last-minute negotiations with international sports officials that led to a new termination clause being added to the host contract, allowing the IOC to take back the Games if the world agency’s “supreme authority” is not respected.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials, who are taking the lead in efforts to ease the friction, have repeatedly offered assurances that there’s no reason to fear Utah could lose the 2034 Winter Games. So have IOC officials, but some members of Congress are still unhappy.
Taking ‘a breather’ before organizing
It ended up taking longer than expected to put together the organizing committee for the 2034 Games. Despite a Dec. 24 deadline in the host contract, the leaders and members of the private organization responsible for staging the Games weren’t named until February.
“Our focus was, let’s win the bid. And once we’ve won it, let’s take a little bit of down time because we’ve been running hard for years,” said Fraser Bullock, who led the bid and is now the organizing committee’s president and executive chair. “We took a breather.”
Plus, he said, it was important to get “broad buy-in,” from U.S. and international Olympic officials as well as political leaders in Utah, especially at the state level since it was the governor who signed the host contract that assumes responsibility for any financial shortfalls.
Bullock, who served as chief operating officer of Utah’s 2002 Games, said the strength of the bid allowed for a head start on some work that could have been left to the organizing committee, such as lining up venue agreements and contracts for hotel rooms.
Utah organizers were given more than the traditional seven years to prepare, so they aren’t in too much of a hurry. Also, key commercial activities like selling sponsorships have to wait until after the next U.S. Olympics, the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
In the next two years, “you will not see us get very big,” Wilson said. “There’s a few things we’re working on now, planning-wise, but a lot of it we purposely are kind of holding off because the world can change a lot and we don’t want to have to re-do anything, and pay for things twice.”
Still, he said, the amount of interest Utahns have this far out in the state’s next Olympics is surprising. There’s already enough demand from groups to have organizers come and speak that some invitations are being turned down.
A “listening tour” with local officials in communities that have Olympic venues is underway, but for now, public engagement is only through outreach by members of several recently established advisory committees.
Wilson said the organizing committee is trying to strike a balance “between keeping people engaged and enthused, and not over-committing to things that we can’t sustain for the next eight years.”
By the end of the year, he hopes to have the organizing committee’s online presence “rebuilt” to spread the word that anyone who wants to be considered for the 25,000 volunteer positions needed for the Games will have to have prior experience giving their time.
Raising money is also a current priority. In May, the amount of money organizers are counting on coming from private contributions was nearly doubled, to $300 million, as a hedge against economic uncertainty.
The Games’ $4 billion budget does not include state or local taxpayer dollars, instead relying largely on the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorships and tickets. Donors funded the $3.9 million bid and are anticipated to cover the cost of running the organizing committee through 2028.
What next for Utah’s Olympic organizers
This fall, the USOPC will hold its annual assembly in Salt Lake City, just a few months ahead of the 2026 Winter Games, in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Utah’s organizing committee will meet together in person for the first time after a couple of virtual meetings.
Nothing is planned on Pioneer Day to note the year that’s passed since Utah finally secured a second Winter Games but organizers said they want Utahns to know that they’re already working hard towards 2034.
“We’re not in Paris anymore, but we’re laying the foundation for what will hopefully be an incredibly successful Games,” said Olympic speedskater Catherine Raney Norman, who chaired the bid committee and is now the Games’ vice president of development and athlete services.
“It’s funny. Everybody says, ‘8½ years.’ But we’re busy. We’re very busy. We’re a small team, a small and mighty team,” she said, describing their efforts as akin to being “on a high speed train, catching butterflies sometimes.”
Her message to Utahns is that organizers intend to stay true to “the hearts and the values of Utahns” that were showcased in the presentation she and other members of the bid team made to the IOC in Paris. “We’re really trying to figure out how we connect those dots.”