These will be the fifth Winter Olympics (and tenth overall) to be hosted by the United States. Salt Lake City previously hosted in 2002, 32 years earlier, and will become the fifth city to host multiple Winter Olympics, after St. Moritz (1928, 1948), Lake Placid (1932, 1980), Innsbruck (1964, 1976), and Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956, 2026 (with Milan)). It will be the first singular-city Winter Olympic host since 2022, as the expected preceding Winter Olympics will be multi-city hosted.
The new IOC bidding process was approved at the 134th IOC Session on June 24, 2019, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The key proposals, driven by the relevant recommendations from Olympic Agenda 2020, are:[4][5]
Establish a permanent, ongoing dialogue to explore and create interest among cities/regions/countries and National Olympic Committees for any Olympic event.
Create two Future Host Commissions (Summer and Winter Games) to oversee interest in future Olympic events and report to the IOC executive board.
Give the IOC Session more influence by having non-executive board members form part of the Future Host Commissions.
The IOC also modified the Olympic Charter to increase its flexibility by removing the date of election from seven years before the games, and changing the host from a single city/region/country to multiple cities, regions, or countries.
According to the Future Host Commission's rules of conduct, the new IOC bidding system is divided into two dialogue stages:[6]
Continuous dialogue involving non-committal discussions between the IOC and interested parties (City/Region/Country/NOC interested in hosting) with regard to hosting future Olympic events.
Targeted dialogue with one or more interested parties (called preferred host(s)), as instructed by the IOC Executive Board. This follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission as a result of continuous dialogue.
Host selection
On November 29, 2023, per the recommendation of the Future Host Commission, the IOC Executive Board invited the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to targeted dialogue, with Salt Lake City—Utah named the preferred host and sole candidate for the 2034 Winter Olympics.[7][8]
During the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on July 24, 2024, Salt Lake City was elected as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics, via a referendum to the 95 IOC delegates.[9]
The IOC insisted that Salt Lake City agree that it may "terminate Olympic host city contracts in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the world antidoping code is hindered or undermined." This was intended to undermine the United States Department of Justice's criminal investigation into the allegations that the World Anti-Doping Agency failed to sanction and covered up drug use by Chinese swimmers.[10][11] However, IOC president Thomas Bach has attempted to alleviate concerns that the city could lose its second Olympics if organizers do not fulfill an agreement to play a peacemaker between anti-doping authorities. Bach downplayed the gravity of a termination clause that the IOC inserted into Salt Lake City's host contract in July.[12]
Development and preparations
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City had left a strong legacy, with venues constructed for the Games (such as Utah Olympic Park) having continued to host international events and world championships; in the 2013–14 period, Utah hosted 16 winter sports events, contributing $27.3 million to the state economy.[13][14][15] The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee stated in 2022 that it was "already in dialogue with the IOC, not yet for a specific year but as part of their evolving process" over the possibility of Salt Lake City hosting a future Winter Olympics; the Committee had named Salt Lake City its preferred candidate for a future U.S. Winter Olympics in 2022, citing its existing infrastructure.[16][17]
Venues
Utah Olympic Park, pictured in 2007, was originally built for the 2002 Games and is scheduled to host several events in 2034
Originally, the Delta Center was to host figure skating and short track speed skating. In October 2024, the owner of the newly relocated Utah Hockey Club, Ryan Smith, announced that said venue would instead host ice hockey, swapping with the Maverik Center.[18] However, this change has not yet been ratified by the organizers or the International Olympic Committee.
All planned competition venues already exist and were built for the 2002 Winter Olympics.[19][20]
Domestically, NBCUniversal's ongoing agreement with the IOC expires at the end of the 2032 Summer Olympics. Reuters reported in 2022 that the IOC would wait "for the best market conditions" for the 2034 Games and beyond.[21]
1 – Games handed without bids submitted; 2 – Only one bid submitted; 3 – Bids submitted but no Games celebration; 4 – No bids submitted and no Games celebration
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