Everyone remembers Salt Lake City as the host of the 2002 Winter Games.
But when the Olympics and Paralympics for athletes with disabilities return 3,000 days from Monday, organizers want the world to know it’s the state, not just the capital city, that’s putting on the show.
So the new official name of the next Winter Games unveiled Monday?
Utah 2034.
Look for the stylized new logo, modeled after Utah’s red rocks as well as the shapes carved on snow and ice by winter athletes, on everything from a 12-foot high sate-shaped sign at the Salt Lake City International Airport to T-shirts and baseball caps.
“This is an opportunity to widen Utah’s brand around the world, just like we did with Salt Lake City in 2002,” said Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Bullock said the state is the “umbrella brand” for the 2034 Winter Games.
“All of Utah is part of these Games because Utah is the host. It is the financial guarantor,” he said, referring to Gov. Spencer Cox signing the host contract with the International Olympic Committee on behalf of the state, obligating taxpayers to pick up any financial shortfall.
“But we also pull all of Utah together in experiencing the Games and having pride in having the Games in our state,” Bullock said. “Many of the venue communities, and most of the competitions are actually outside Salt Lake City.”
While he still calls Salt Lake City “an important heart of the Games” as the site of multiple venues, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, its name can appear in regular type only below the new logo.
That combination of Utah 2034 and Salt Lake City will be the organizing committee’s “default logo” on letterhead and signature boxes “because of its prominence, because of its ties to 2002 and because it’s the capital city,” Bullock said, providing “a boost” to the Utah brand.
But other venue communities, including Park City, Kearns and Provo, at some point will also have the opportunity to use the new logo with their city names printed beneath in the same regular type, he said, the “best of both worlds.”
And the organizing committee’s social media channel references to Salt Lake City have been changed. The slc-ut2034.org website is now www.utah2034.org; Instagram is @Utah2034; Facebook is Utah2034; X, formerly Twitter, is @Utah2034; and YouTube is @Utah2034.
The state already has taken the lead on the Games, with Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, naming the organizing committee’s leadership team and overseeing the board membership.
The governor said he loves the new Utah 2034 name and logo he helped unveiled at the airport arrivals hall Monday, saying it “looks really good and it just screams Utah.” It’s about “bringing everybody together and celebrating the entire state,” he said.
“One of the complaints we got about the last Olympics and Paralympics was that much of the state felt like they were kind of shut out of it. Not only did were they not part of it leading up to it, but then when it happened, they couldn’t get tickets. It was hard to get to,” he said.
For 2034, Cox said, “we want to make that a different experience for everyone.”
Schultz also praised the new name and logo.
“This is the Utah Games. We want it to hit every corner of the state,” the speaker said, adding, “it’s not just Salt Lake City that makes Utah unique and special. It’s every corner of the state. I think when we’re bringing everybody together we’re better off than just one city.”
What the SLC mayor says about Utah 2034
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s reaction to Utah 2034?
“It stings,” Mendenhall said. “It’s not the route I would have chosen for the name of these Games but I sincerely do want the Games to lift up every community in the state. And I’m grateful that we structurally and logistically are not changed as a host community.”
The capital city will still be where the Games ceremonies are held, athletes are housed, medals are awarded, and hockey, big air and curling competitions take place, the mayor said, and where people from around the world travel through the city’s international airport.
“Salt Lake City’s downtown will still be the heart of the 2034 Games. We’re proud to be every Utahns’ capital city,” she said. “We have played and will continue to play a central role in both the bid process and the delivery of the Games. That doesn’t change with this name change.”
Unlike city mayors ahead of the 2002 Games, Mendenhall does not have a vote on the organizing committee, although she has an honorary title and advisory positions, including as head of a group of venue community officials.
She told the Deseret News earlier this year that “the state has been clear that they are focused on making these Games about the entire state. And I believe that, in their eyes, Salt Lake City has no more role at that table than any other host community.”
Mendenhall has also said she had to push to keep the city’s name as part of the bid. When the 2034 Winter Games were awarded in Paris last year, the then-IOC president, Thomas Bach, announced “Salt Lake City, Utah” would be the host.
As the new logo was being developed, the mayor said she negotiated for the inclusion of Salt Lake City in the “primary logo” used by the organizing committee.
“We are and always will be an Olympic city,” she said. “That will never change.”
Brad Wilson, the organizing committee’s CEO and a former Utah House speaker, said making Utah the Games host has been talked about since the IOC first opened the door for bids from regions and even multiple countries more than six years ago.
“The conversation was around, how do we have all of Utah host these Games,” Wilson said. “When it became a reality that the Games were coming here ... then the conversation shifted to how do we unite the whole state behind this effort?”
Not only were organizers looking for a way to engage all Utahns, he said they also “want everyone in the state of Utah to feel the opportunity and maybe even a little bit of the responsibility to be a host to the world in ‘34. So that’s where this came from.”
Wilson said Utah 2034 is not a name change for the Winter Games, but “our official name,” now being made public after months of behind the scenes work.
He said those that have seen the name, “whether they live inside Salt Lake City or outside, they say, ‘That makes so much sense.’ So we’re feeling really excited and optimistic” about having “a shorter, snappier name in Utah 2034 versus Salt Lake City-Utah 2034.”
It’s a strong message to the world that “Utah will be your host in 2034, including Salt Lake City,” Wilson said, noting there are Games venues in five counties along both the Wasatch Front and Wasatch Back.
“This isn’t anything negative about Salt Lake at all,” he said. “This is just about all of us who are Utahns, regardless of whether we live in one city or another, coming together to be host to the world.”
Selling the new name for the 2034 Winter Games
The Switzerland-based IOC “welcomes the new official name of ‘Utah 2034’ for Olympic Winter Games edition in 2034,” a spokesperson told the Deseret News.
“The IOC sees this opportunity to unite an entire region, and engage wider audiences across the USA, in the build-up to the 2034 Winter Games,” the IOC spokesperson said, adding the logo is “transitional” and will be replaced with an official Games brand in the future.
Both the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the IOC signed off on the new logo, set to remain in place through the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. After that, the limitations on marketing the 2034 Games to avoid competition with another U.S. host will be lifted.
Until 2029, organizers are relying on contributions pledged by individuals and foundations with Utah ties to cover their costs. So far, more than $200 million has been pledged towards the $4 billion price tag for putting on the 2034 Winter Games.
All of the revenue needed is expected to come from private sources, largely from the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorships and tickets. Selling licensed products accounts for about 5% of the budget.
Proceeds from the sale of the first-ever 2034 Olympic merchandise will be shared with the USOPC and the LA Games. The “Utah 2034″ products will be sold online and also at several of Utah’s Olympic venues.
“It won’t generate a lot of money,” Bullock said. “We just want to get the merchandise in the hands of fans.”
At the airport ceremony, black knit beanies with the new logo were handed out to dozens of school-aged athletes who posed with the governor in front of the new sign, including three speedskating siblings from Draper. s
Tristan Epperson, 14, labeled the new logo “awesome. I really like it. The style, the words, I just think it goes well (together).” He also appreciated that organizers are calling 2034 the Utah Games.
“It’s in Utah. It’s all about Utah and bringing in more people, and bringing them together,” said Epperson, who trains at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns with his younger sister, Francesca, and older brother, Sebastien. “So I think it’s a lot better that it’s Utah.”
