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≡ PROGRESS REPORT ≡
Amazing. Astounding. Almost unbelievable.
At a Thursday (14th) meeting of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee of the Utah State Legislature, Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 organizing committee chief executive Brad Wilson stated – with considerable calm – that private commitments from donors are approaching $150 million.
This is unheard of.
For Olympic Games and similar-style events held in the United States, raising money to stand up the organizing committee is always a problem. For the 2028 Los Angeles Games, the International Olympic Committee advanced $180 million to the LA28 organizers, $20 million for direct organizing committee support and $160 million for City of Los Angeles youth programs through to 2028, some of which was used very early to pay the bills until sponsorship support began coming in.
Wilson, the former speaker of the Utah House, explained further what has happened for the 2034 organizers:
“Our ability to go out right now and secure corporate sponsors for our Games, is in a holding pattern, until L.A. completes their Games in 2028. And we are such big supporters and fans of the L.A. team, and the L.A. Games and they are actively in the market, working with corporate sponsors and we’ll try to draft off of them as they finish their Games up, and then we will pivot to our commercial program at that point in time.
“Until then, we are reliant on the good graces of the philanthropic community here in the State of Utah. And so we’re actively engaged in that community. You saw on an earlier slide that we have $150 million in donor commitments. You will see an event sometime in the next month or so where we will announce our first wave of key donors and donor commitments, and you will be getting an invitation to that event as members of this committee.
“But that part is going very, very well.”
He added later in the presentation:
“The leaders in this community, business leaders, philanthropic leaders, are amazing. And I think, in some ways, we take it for granted a little bit – how remarkable they are – but you will see in the month of September when we announce this first wave, a level of donor support that is unusual and we just couldn’t more grateful for those that are stepping up, because I think they understand that Utah is very special . They want to sure we maximize this opportunity, for the world.”
It was noted that four-time Olympic speed skater and the SLC-Utah Committee for the Games bid chair, Cat Raney Norman, has been leading the fund-raising effort. And quite successfully so far.
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The remainder of the report from SLC-Utah 2034 was less stunning; Executive Chair Fraser Bullock underscored one of the key initiatives for the Games, “that was really promulgated by a conversation I had with Lindsey Vonn a few years ago, was around the athlete’s families.
“Many times an athlete will qualify 10 days before the Games’ opening ceremonies and their families don’t have tickets, they don’t have accommodations, they don’t have transportation, and the athlete wants their family to watch them. So we’ve created the Athlete’s Families Initiative, where we’re going to have so many activities and messages and things we can do around families, which fits very well with the values of Utah, obviously, but also to take care, special care of the athlete’s families …
“One pillar of this to have an Athlete’s Families Village, where families from around the world could be together instead of isolated in Airbnbs, but actually be together and I’m excited about bringing the athlete’s families of the world together to share these experiences together.”
Bullock also noted that athletes from more than 30 countries are training in Utah today.
Wilson observed that “our level of preparation and readiness to host a Winter Games is probably unprecedented,” but that with the time available to consider new concepts, he said a major focus is on “how do we maximize the opportunity that’s presented to us?”
As to the preparations already in place, Wilson noted:
“All of the venues that were used in ‘02 are, for the most part, are being used again, and all of the agreements with those venues, as well as 21,000 hotel rooms, are already under contract. We just need about 3,000 more hotel rooms and that box is checked and I expect that will be done in the next 3-6 months.
“And you think about how remarkable that is, and I checked, we’re 3,102 days away from opening ceremonies and this work is done. And there are organizing committees that are hosting Games in the next 2-3 years that don’t have this work done yet.”
Possible adding some sports to the program is being considered, but no request will be made until 2028 or 2029.
The discussion with the committee’s elected officials offered no surprises, and included the inevitable requests for (1) inexpensive tickets and (2) to consider how to “coordinate and leverage Federal funds to support Utah, because of the Games.” Of course.
Observed: This level of community support from the private and philanthropic sector – no public funding – is almost beyond description. The SLC-Utah organizing committee presentation noted they have eight employees and three consultants, with very little growth expected in the coming months.
So much, if not all, of the funding it will need through the end of 2028, when it will be able to go into the sponsorship marketplace, is already committed.
While the SLC-Utah bid had enormous public support within the state, this demonstration of financial support is the best indicator yet of how successful the 2034 Winter Games could be.
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