Salt Lake City also wants the 2030 Games.
It appears Salt Lake City is going to get some additional competition in the race to land the 2030 Winter Olympics. Sapporo, Japan is going after the event despite Japan’s disastrous 2020 Summer Olympics experience which included cost overruns and the COVID-19 pandemic. Barcelona, Spain is interested in pursuing the 2030 Games and Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Huttsait said his country plans on bidding on the 2030 Olympics. Vancouver backers also want the 2030 Winter Olympics. Why countries continue to go after the Olympics remains a mystery. The event is a big money loser with cities, municipalities and nations paying off large debt for years. Some of those venues are unused after the event and rot away.
But Huttsait said Ukraine looks at landing the 2030 Olympics in a positive manner. The country will get attention. “Well, first of all the country’s prestige. Hosting the Olympic Games in the country means attracting powerful investors, new infrastructure, new sports infrastructure. We understand that the more sports infrastructure there will be, the more where children will come to study. We will not see the result today or tomorrow. But what is being laid in the country today in terms of the sports infrastructure, we will see this result in 10 years, do you understand?” In other words, Ukraine will lose lots of money hosting the Games, but think of the prestige. Prestige can serve as a deodorant and cover up the stench of rotting Olympics venues. Meanwhile, Salt Lake City Olympics backers are looking for money, probably from the Utah state government and the federal government because the initial estimate that a 2030 event would cost nearly $2 billion is not enough money. Another quarter of a billion dollars is needed and that is in 2022 dollars. The Olympics event is a money loser.
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