Potential 2030 Denver Winter Olympics Bid Gets Mixed Response

DENVER, CO – Members of the U.S. Olympic Committee visited Denver Tuesday as part of an attempt to bring the 2030 Winter Olympics to the United States, either in Denver or Salt Lake City. The reaction in Denver was mixed, with the memory of the city's rejecting an Olympic bid in 1976, and a group of activists already demanding to put the issue to the ballot in May.

Organizers in the Reno-Tahoe, Nevada area withdrew their bid on Monday, saying the finances were a challenge.

Denver and Colorado’s Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Exploratory Committee had been looking at the possibility of Denver hosting the Winter Olympics in 2020, but the committee quickly shared their research with the IOC committee for a 2030 bid.

“The meeting gave us an opportunity to share our vision for how we could host a world-class, privately funded Winter Games in our state,” Rob Cohen, the committee's chair said in a written statement published in the Denver Post.

The officials spent Tuesday in Denver and met with Mayor Michael Hancock and Gov. John Hickenlooper. Boosters have suggested that the games in 2020 could be privately financed for $1.8-$2.1 billion, the Post reported. The Denver committee suggested repurposing existing facilities instead of building potential "white elephant" Olympics-specific structures. The committee also recommends that no taxpayer dollars be used, and announced in June that several Fortune 500 companies had expressed interest in underwriting.

Some feel Denver dodged a bullet when the city's voters rejected a $5 million bond, torpedoing a bid for the 1976 Olympics.

Governor-elect Jared Polis has said he did would not support the Olympics coming to Denver in 2020. In June, Polis said the Olympics, "are fun things for millionaires and business people but it leaves the rest of us with the debt and the price tag."

The Post reports a group of anti-Olympic organizers are collecting signatures for the "Let Denver Vote" campaign, which would require voter approval before spending “any public monies or resources” on an Olympic bid.

READ MORE in the Denver Post

Image: Silverthorne, Colorado teen Red Gerard wins a gold medal in the snowboarding competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongyang, North Korea via Getty Images.

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