- Utah raises over $200 million for 2034 Winter Olympics through 22 founder commitments.
- Podium34 aims to reach $300 million target before tapping sponsorships post-2028 Olympics.
- The initiative seeks to fund the Games and benefit Utahns beyond 2034.
SALT LAKE CITY — Fraser Bullock and other leaders behind the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics believe that the event to be held in Utah will be nothing like the Olympics have seen before.
And if the amount of money raised so far is any indication, event organizers might be right.
Leaders of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games announced the creation of Podium34, a major fundraising effort to pull off the Games in Utah. Organizers say they've already collected more than $200 million through 22 founder commitments, quickly accounting for over two-thirds of its $300 million target revenue goal.
The money raised will help lay the financial foundation to host the event before organizers can tap into sponsorship funding after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, said Bullock, president and executive chairman of the Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 Games. It also helps fund youth sports, education, other initiatives or infrastructure that the community benefits from.
"To have donations of this magnitude to an Olympic host has never happened before. This is a Games' first," he said, as he stood at the front of a ballroom filled with event organizers and donors Monday afternoon. "While this announcement is stunning in its magnitude, it's the beginning of this great road to host the world in 2034."
The announcement comes a year after the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, while handing the 2030 Winter Olympics to France and giving Switzerland the lead for the 2038 Games all at the same time. Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 announced its organizing committee earlier this year, as planning for the event continues.
Organizers told lawmakers in August they believe they'll be able to raise the $4 billion needed to host the Games from broadcast rights, sponsorships tickets and other private sources. However, despite the need to plan ahead of the event, organizers aren't able to tap into the vast majority of the funds until after the 2028 Games, Brad Wilson, CEO and vice chairman of the organizing committee, explained on Monday.
The money being raised by donations now, he said, will also help toward major infrastructure needs and other key planning details tied to pulling off the event, many of which will benefit the community after the Games.
"What we're doing today is unprecedented," he said. "Those of you who (donated) are facilitating this great opportunity for our state to make a lot of changes that are positive in the lives of others."
Cities home to Olympic venues, like the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, say they'd like to have infrastructure and other improvements in place that help ensure that venues are still utilized after the event. The Games can be "kind of a rejuvenation for our community," Kearns Mayor Kelly Bush said last month.
Key Podium34 donors
Twenty-two individuals, companies and foundations are part of the Podium34 fundraising effort. Some chose to remain anonymous; others include:
Founding Captains ($20 million contribution)
- The Daniels Fund
- George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation
- Robert H. and Katharine B. Garff Foundation
- Huntsman Family Foundation
- Maverik
- Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation
- John and Marcia Price Family Foundation
- Matthew and Tatiana Prince
- Ryan and Ashley Smith Foundation
Founding Donors ($1 million to $15 million)
- The Andrus Family Foundation
- The Boyer Company
- The Coburn Family
- Gregory and Julie Cook Family
- Intermountain Health
- The Kahlert Foundation
- Frederick Q. Lawson Foundation
- Janet Q. Lawson Foundation
- Blake and Sandy Modersitzki Family
- S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation
- Blake and Nancy Roney Family
Members of the International Olympic Committee were "astonished" by the donation amount when it was revealed to them, which will go toward those types of changes and other planning details, Bullock said. All 22 groups that made commitments as of Monday have pledged at least $1 million toward the program, including nine that pledged at least $20 million toward the program.
"We're on this journey together to build something that's better than what the world has ever seen in the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "That's a very exciting place for us to be, and we're proud to be partners with this community in that journey."
IOC President Kirsty Coventry submitted a video congratulating Utah on its fundraising start.
The Games are expected to bring economic advantages, infrastructure and facilities to the state. Hosting the Winter Games again in 2034 could generate an overall economic output of $6.6 billion over the next decade, the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute estimated in 2023. Some of that is based on what happened when Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002.
While Gov. Spencer Cox said those aspects of the Games are important, he believes the early fundraising — supported entirely by voluntary donations — shows exactly why he thinks it's important that Utah will host the world in 2034.
"I don't know what the world is going to look like in 2034, but I know what it looks like in 2025 — and it's not great. It can be better," he said. "I truly believe that the values of Utah are needed more now than ever across the world, and I suspect they're going to be even more needed in 2034."
