(ATR) The International Olympic Committee officially launched the Candidature Process for the 2026 Winter Games on Tuesday.
The IOC, which approved the new process at its Session last month in Lima, Peru, says "It has been reformed and redesigned to enable cities and NOCs to have even more sustainable, feasible and cost-effective Olympic Winter Games, and to align with their local, regional and national long-term development goals."
The 2026 Candidature Process is set up in two stages, both lasting about a year. The dialogue stage, which actually began late last month when the IOC informed National Olympic Committees (NOCs) by letter, will run until October 2018. During this time, interested cities and NOCs work with a more proactive IOC to assess the benefits and requirements related to hosting the Games without having to commit to bidding. The IOC will cover the cost of the teams of technical experts who would help develop a candidature.
In October 2018, the IOC Session will then invite a number of interested cities to participate in the candidature stage.
The candidature stage has been shortened to about one year, lasting from October 2018 to September 2019. A more streamlined procedure is designed to help the candidate cities to work more closely with the IOC.
Candidate cities would then submit a single candidature file by January 2019, with a final decision made at the IOC Session in Milan in September 2019.
Salt Lake City Forms Exploratory Committee
Salt Lake City takes a giant step toward a 2026 or 2030 bid with the formation of an exploratory committee.
Fraser Bullock, the CEO of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, is one of three co-chairmen of the new committee, joining Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser and Utah Sports Commission President and CEO Jeff Robbins.
Bullock told Deseret News that the goal is for the committee to decide on whether to bid for either 2026 or 2030 by Feb. 1. The deadline to declare an interest in bidding for 2026 is March 31.
The announcement in Salt Lake City came a day after voters in Innsbruck and the surrounding region of Tyrol rejected a bid for 2026 in a referendum.
Bullock admitted that the end of the Austrian bid and a delay by the Swiss Federal Council in backing a bid centered in Sion means Salt Lake City will be taking a closer look at 2026.
Calgary Mayor Wins Third Term
The prospect of a Calgary bid for 2026 appears to have changed little after voters opt to give the incumbent mayor a third term.
Naheed Nenshi earned about 51 percent of the vote in Monday’s election. His nearest challenger Bill Smith managed 44 percent with the other nine candidates in the race garnering little support.
The makeup of the city council will be largely unchanged as well, with all 10 of the city councillors who ran for re-election winning. There will be four new councillors.
Nenshi told Global News before the election that a Calgary bid for 2026 will not move forward unless a deal is reached with the IOC to cover the $450 million gap on the operating costs of the Games identified by the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee. He says "we will not bid if the city is responsible for this deficit".
Nenshi also believes that the community must decide if spending money to update and upgrade facilities is the proper use of the city's resources.
The Calgary City Council voted in August to continue exploring the possibility of a bid.
Written by Gerard Farek
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