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SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Olympic Committee announced Tuesday there will not be an American bid for the 2022 Winter Games, a decision that came just hours after Utah leaders looking at another bid met to begin finalizing their recommendations.
The decision by the Colorado Springs-based USOC not to submit a U.S. city for the next Winter Games to be awarded was unanimous, officials said on a conference call. Bids for both the 2024 Summer Games and 2026 Winter Games will be considered.
"I don't think it was a decision not to bid for winter at all. It was a decision we could make a better bid" for 2024, 2026 or both, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said. "I'd be very surprised if we didn't bid for both."
A USOC subcommittee will report back to the board in December on the best strategy to pursue.
Utah's Olympic Exploratory Committee had met earlier in the day and had been expecting the USOC to put off a decision until later this year. Other cities looking at a U.S. bid for 2022 included Denver and the Reno-Tahoe area.
The exploratory committee was named by Gov. Gary Herbert last February on the 10-year anniversary of the start of the 2002 Winter Games to come up with a recommendation on bidding again for a Games.
It's a major commitment on the part of a community and a state to pursue a Games again. That's the reason we're having, I think, a careful analysis done to take a look at those things. I can tell you for me that I'm anxious to really review that information in some detail and understand it from the point of view of whether or not we should pursue a Games.
–Mayor Ralph Becker
Although much of the focus has been on a 2022 bid, exploratory committee members have been careful to also talk about future bids, as well. They decided Tuesday to make their findings public after the 2012 Summer Games in London end in early August.
The committee originally was expected to come up with a recommendation on a bid by June. That date was changed after the committee decided to hire a consultant to write its report.
"We don't see this as a delay," Lt. Gov. Greg Bell, the committee's lead co-chairman, said earlier Tuesday. "We're being very deliberative, taking our time, doing it right. We're not pushing any deadlines."
Bell said the committee's closed-door review of the first draft of the consultant's report focused on technical issues and did not include a specific recommendation yet on bidding again.
"We don't want this to be foreordained or pre-cooked," the lieutenant governor said. "We're not dealing with this on a 'siss-boom-ba' level."
But he said he believes "ultimately, we will make a very good case for the Games. I will even go so far that should we go forward, we will win the Games."
Also earlier Tuesday, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker said there may turn out to be good reasons not to go after another Winter Olympics in Utah.
Related:
Olympic bid may be a long shot but still good PR
A bid for another Winter Games should be sold as a long shot that will bring positive publicity to the state no matter what happens, according to a proposed communications strategy presented Wednesday to the Olympic Exploratory Committee."Actually, there are a number of things that, from my vantage point, are very serious considerations," the mayor said before going into a closed meeting of the state's Olympic Exploratory Committee for a first look at the report recommending whether the state bid again for the Games.
Becker said it's still not clear how much another bid would cost, or who would pick up the tab. Another potential issue is the condition of the state's 2002 Games facilities and how much would need to be spent to prepare them for another Olympics.
"It's a major commitment on the part of a community and a state to pursue a Games again," he said. "That's the reason we're having, I think, a careful analysis done to take a look at those things. I can tell you for me that I'm anxious to really review that information in some detail and understand it from the point of view of whether or not we should pursue a Games."
The mayor noted there is no shortage of enthusiasm for another bid.
"We obviously have some very strong promoters, understandably. And people are excited given the experience we had with the 2002 Games," Becker said. "But in my mind, that does not mean we should necessarily pursue another Winter Olympic bid. There are a lot of things that go into it, and it's a very serious, expensive undertaking."
