Salt Lake City officially bids to host 2034 Winter Olympic Games

Salt Lake City on Thursday officially submitted its bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympic Games, according to Reuters. The Utah capital held the Winter Games in 2002.

"Today was such a monumental day in our journey to bring the Games back to Utah," said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. "Since the 2002 Games, sport has been a legacy in Utah that has helped define who we are. Looking ahead to 2034, we are uniting under a vision to truly elevate our communities, winter sport, and the Games experience."

Salt Lake City bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics before but dropped the plans because Los Angeles will hold the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. Back in November 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called Salt Lake City a preferred host for the 2034 Winter Games.

"Following a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, the IOC Executive Board (EB) today invited the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) into Targeted Dialogues towards hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2030 in the French Alps, and the 2034 edition in Salt Lake City-Utah. The IOC will now start more detailed discussions with the Preferred Hosts, led by their National Olympic Committees (NOCs), with the aim of awarding both editions at the 142nd IOC Session in July in Paris," the IOC said.

So far, there is no second bidder competing with Salt Lake City, which included its Games vision and concept along with site plans, sustainability studies and financial information in the Preferred Host Submission, according to Reuters. The committee will submit the federal, state and local government guarantees and venue use, lodging and marketing rights agreements to the IOC in late March.

The IOC's Future Host Commission will travel to Salt Lake City between April 9 and 13 to evaluate venues and preparations for the Winter Olympics. They will report what they see to the Executive Board, which will decide if the bid should be put to a vote by the full membership.

"We think we will blow them away. We are very, very pleased with what we have to offer," Bullock said. "If we receive a positive vote after our presentation then we would go right to signing the Olympic host contract right there. That will be a very special day for us."