(ATR) The Calgary 2026 Olympic bid could be over as soon as today.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi brought things to a head late on Friday, putting a Monday deadline on reaching an Olympic funding deal between the three levels of government. The Calgary Herald reported Nenshi, in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that if a deal was not brokered by then, he would have the Calgary city council end the process for hosting the Games.
Nenshi’s letter followed the news on Friday that the federal government had decided to fund up to $1.75 billion if the bid is successful, but only if the province and city match the total.
In his letter to Trudeau, Nenshi included an Oct. 11 email from Alberta’s chief negotiator to federal officials that stated there was a tentative agreement in place where the federal government would put up $1.75 billion and any IOC guarantees with the city of Calgary adding $370 million and the province of Alberta $700 million.
Those numbers still would fall $180 million short of the required $3 billion public contribution needed for the Games.
Senior officials of all three governments met on Saturday and Sunday but failed to reach an accommodation, according to the Calgary Herald.
The funding agreement was supposed to have been figured out weeks ago, well ahead of the Nov. 13 plebiscite on hosting the Games. Even if a deal is brokered in the next few days, there isn’t much time for voters to digest and understand what it could mean for a potential Olympic bid. Advance voting is set for Nov. 6 to 7.
Last week, Calgary 2026 bid CEO Mary Moran admitted that the lack of definitive numbers is making it more difficult to promote the bid to Calgarians.
The Calgary city council is not meeting today, so it would seem that any possible vote to officially end the bid process couldn’t happen immediately. The city’s 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Assessment Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.
Like Calgary, the other two remaining 2026 bidders, Stockholm and Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo, have also yet to secure government support.
Note: All monetary figures are in Canadian dollars.
Written by Gerard Farek
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