SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The International Olympic Committee’s decision this week to pick both Paris and Los Angeles as the next two Summer Games’ hosts is a break from tradition that one expert feels could improve Salt Lake City’s chances to host another Winter Games.
Ed Hula, founder and editor of Olympics business news source Around the Rings, said Salt Lake City has a better chance of hosting the 2030 Winter Games now that the committee has shown it’s willing to go against the norm, The Deseret News (https://bit.ly/2uo4rw9 ) reported.
Hula expects Paris to land the 2024 Summer Games and Los Angeles the 2028 Summer Games, he said.
The committee does not typically pick the location of two games at once, as it will do in September. And it also does not typically award countries two Olympics in a row, as it would have to do if a Winter Games in Salt Lake City is to follow the potential Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Utah Sports Commission President and CEO Jeff Robbins said Salt Lake City remains “ready, willing and able” to host another Olympics by maintaining the 2002 competition facilities and holding many national and international sporting events.
“We’re doing a lot in the Olympic world, so when the USOC decides they’re going to bid on a Winter Games, we hope we’re in as good a shape as we can be,” Robbins said.
U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Jones, however, said it’s too soon to talk about a U.S. bid for the 2030 Winter Games. “We’re exclusively focused on our bid to bring the Games to L.A.,” Jones said.
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