The 2002 Olympic Cauldron is pictured outside Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Monday, January 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Organizers leading the effort to bring the Olympics back to Utah have revealed what they expect a 2034 Winter Games will cost — and they’re continuing to promise no state or local public funding will be needed.
The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games released its budget on Monday, projecting that a 2034 Winter Games in Utah would cost nearly $4 billion, including $2.83 billion for “core games” operations.
Beyond that $2.83 billion operating budget for the Games’ day-to-day operations, $905 million would include a joint marketing agreement and revenue sharing with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which includes a sponsor sales and support program. In addition, $260 million would be for a legacy fund for future sport and youth programs — something “we hope to achieve after we break even,” Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the organizing committee, told reporters during a virtual presentation Monday morning.
“A cornerstone of our financial plan is that we will raise our entire Games operating budget from commercial and private sources, with no use of state or local taxpayer dollars,” Bullock said in a prepared statement.
The bid committee provided the budget to the International Olympic Committee as part of its response to the Future Host Questionnaire, a 78-page document also released Monday that details Salt Lake City and Utah’s vision for a 2034 Games.
SLC UT 2034 Future Host Questionnaire response
Salt Lake City is close to officially locking down the Games. It has already been selected as a 2034 preferred host. From June 12-14, the IOC Executive Board is expected to review the report, and a final, formal decision by the full IOC is expected to be announced on July 24, Utah’s Pioneer Day, in Paris ahead of the start of the 2034 Summer Games.
In April, IOC officials toured Utah and its existing Olympic venues, praising Utah’s preparedness and reminiscing about Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Games.
Budget
The $2.83 billion operating budget is higher than previous costs organizers cited in the past (most recently, $2.45 billion, the Deseret News reported, according to a November IOC feasibility assessment), but those estimates would have been for a 2030 Winter Games. Plus, Bullock said Monday’s projections were in 2034 dollars, accounting for expected inflation.
“In today’s dollars, it would be significantly less, maybe 20% less in today’s dollars,” Bullock said.
When compared to 2002, “we’re slightly less or roughly equivalent” to the Games’ operating costs, “which gives us a fair amount of confidence that we’re in the right ballpark,” Bullock said.
Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, talks to reporters as the IOC’s Future Host Commission visits the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Friday, April 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Bullock noted, however, that budgets “constantly evolve” over time and “we’re probably on iteration over 100.” Monday’s numbers, he said, are supported by “an incredible amount of detail” but they also recognize more changes can come over the next 10 years as plans and revenues shape up.
“This will be an ongoing document all the way through the end of the Games, but we feel like where we are today gives us a very, very solid projection,” Bullock said.
A major anticipated revenue source supporting the budget includes a target of $1.19 billion from ticket sales and hospitality, said Brett Hopkins, chief operating officer and chief financial officer for the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.
“That is a very big number,” Hopkins said, noting that organizers expect “quite a few more events and therefore tickets to sell” compared to 2002.
“This number allows us to fund these games privately, if you will, without reliance on public funds,” he said, adding that organizers plan to implement a ticket pricing strategy that will offer tiered prices depending on demand. “Yes, there will be some very high-demand tickets that will be expensive, but there also (will be) some lower-end tickets that are very affordable.”
Organizers expect to have about 34,000 tickets available “in the $34 dollar range,” Hopkins said.
Other major revenue sources include $751 million in contributions from the IOC, $1.8 billion in domestic sponsorships expected to be generated through the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee joint venture on the heels of the Los Angeles 2028 Games, $200 million from licensing and merchandising, and $307 million in other funding, including donations, liquidations, interest incomes and other revenues.
A major cost savings for a 2034 Winter Games, Bullock said, is that Utah doesn’t need to build new permanent Olympic venues. However, “that’s offset to some degree” by an expected 40% increase in the number of events.
Organizers expect to spend about $309 million for venue infrastructure, however, mostly to provide temporary venues, according to the bid committee’s future host questionnaire response document.
Danka Barrekova, an International Olympic Committee member, Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games executive director, and Colin Hilton, CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, chat as the IOC’s Future Host Commission visits the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Friday, April 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
“We benefit from the permanent facilities that are in place (from 2002), but we will have to make modifications,” Hopkins said.
Organizers also expect to spend over $792,652 for sport, games services and operations; more than $406 million for technology (a large expense expected due to “increased complexity” due to more events and more global outreach, Hopkins said); nearly $500 million for people management, nearly $133 million for ceremonies and culture events, over $84 million for communications and marketing, and more than $170 million for corporate administration and sustainability, according to the budget overview.
While no local or state taxpayer dollars are included in the budget, the federal government is expected to help fund security and transportation expenses, as it has for past Olympics and other major events.
What are the ‘big gears’ Utah must move for a 2034 Olympics?
Those expected costs were not included in Monday’s budget. In April, Sen. Mitt Romney urged Utah leaders to start asking Congress now to begin putting aside funding every year to prepare for national special security events and transportation for the Olympics, warning Congress in 2034 will likely be confronting “some very tough financial times,” due to frustrations with federal spending and national debt.
In addition to the nearly $4 billion in total costs, Hopkins said organizers also plan to factor in $210 million for revenue contingency to provide flexibility to reduce or increase revenue targets “as this thing evolves.”
Economic impact
In a May 2022 report, the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute estimated a 2030 Winter Games would bring a total of $3.9 billion, more than 30,000 job years of employment opportunities, and $1.5 billion in personal income.
The institute is expected to release an updated 2034 economic impact analysis in July, “which we suspect will go up with inflation and maybe some expanded elements,” Bullock said.
“So we recognize that a lot of the elements of our budget that you see go out into the community and are spent with local businesses, and we think that’s a very significant positive impact to our communities from this,” he said.
Gov. Spencer Cox issued a prepared statement Monday saying a 2034 Winter Games is expected to bring “impactful benefits” to the state.
“It’s a very purposeful opportunity for us,” Cox said. “From a societal perspective, it will help boost our communities through sport. And the Games will also bring notable economic impact through enhanced tax revenues and creation of jobs.”
Skaters practice at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Friday, April 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
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