A city council staff report casts doubt on Vancouver’s ability to host the 2030 event.
Salt Lake City’s 2030 Winter Olympics backers may have gotten a boost in the attempt to land the Games after a Vancouver, British Columbia city council staff report was released. The report said the Winter Olympics is not worth pursuing. Karen Levitt, deputy city manager of the Vancouver City Council, said the staff was “not in a position to provide a definitive recommendation” to back the bid for the 2030 Vancouver and British Columbia Games. “It is staff’s view that in order for Council to provide such a negotiating mandate to staff, Council would need to have a clear understanding of the proposed funding, operating, indemnification and governance models for the proposed BC bid. None of these are currently in place. It is staff’s view that there is insufficient time for the requisite work to be done by staff to evaluate the potential benefits, costs and risks to the City, and to negotiate the necessary legal agreements by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s deadline of December 2022.”
The report does not end the Vancouver bid but it does not help Vancouver’s bid either. There is also a local city council election in October and that may play a role in Vancouver’s bid as the present council could be reluctant in making any decisions on whether Vancouver should go ahead with the bid until a new council is in place. There does not seem to be too much interest in hosting the 2030 Winter Olympics. Ukraine backers did meet with International Olympic Committee delegates but Ukraine was invaded by Russia in February. Spain dropped out of the bidding. Sapporo, Japan backers continue a push. Meanwhile, Salt Lake City backers may push its bid back to 2034 because Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Summer Games.
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