Decision day for city’s Olympic bid
Council voting on whether to spend $2M more, or halt pursuit of Games
Debate over whether to invest another $2 million to keep exploring the value of a 2026 Winter Olympics bid in Calgary is expected to be heated and divisive at City Hall on Monday, as councillors square off on either side of the trenches.
A no vote would likely scuttle all hopes of a Calgary bid.
“Another $2 million is definitely a big no for me. It’s just not worth it. This has been a bad idea from the start,” said Coun. Sean Chu, who represents Ward 4 in the city’s northwest.
“Yes, we had a great Olympics in 1988 but it’s a completely different time now. When did you ever even hear of terrorism in 1988? Now we see bombings everywhere all over the world. I would be very concerned about security.
“And we’ve already seen so much overspending with more recent Olympics, so much debt. Nothing good can come out of this.”
Still, others, including those who were here for the highly successful, financially profitable 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, believe that success can be matched.
“I think we can duplicate what we did here in Calgary in 1988,” said Coun. Ray Jones. “We’ll still have thousands of volunteers, which will save us a lot of money.”
Today, city administrators will ask for an estimated $2 million — on top of the $5 million already dedicated to exploring a bid. The cash would be used to form a de facto bid corporation, in response to recent changes to the International Olympic Committee’s 2026 candidature process.
Council won’t need to make a final decision on bidding for the 2026 Games until July, but bureaucrats say if the city wants a competitive bid, significant work remains between now and then.
The request for more money comes after the Calgary bid exploration committee ended operations at the end of October after 10 months of work and a conclusion that a repeat Calgary Olympics would cost $4.6 billion, including $40 million to bid.
The committee, chaired by former police chief Rick Hanson and managed by Brian Hahn, determined it’s feasible for the city to host a repeat Olympics, but further work is needed to know if it’s prudent. The group spent $3.5 million of its $5-million budget, and the remaining $1.5 million is now being used by city bureaucrats to analyze whether Calgary should bid, based on five principles the committee identified surrounding funding models, operating costs and financial guarantees.
A report going to council is stark about what a rejection of the extra cash will mean for an Olympic bid: “If council does not endorse the additional $2 million, administration recommends that all work toward a 2026 … bid stop and that all the remaining funds be redirected to develop a 1988 Olympic facility lifecycle strategy.”
Councillors say they still have plenty of questions before they decide whether to support the additional $2 million, which would mean an increase in the 2018 operating budget from the city’s fiscal stability reserve.
“I am going to need confirmation of a lot of variables before I decide,” said northwest Coun. Ward Sutherland. “Especially whether we will get significant support to fund the Games and the facilities from the provincial and federal governments.”
Sutherland said that legacy assets from the 1988 Games — including the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary, the Nordic Centre in Canmore and downhill facilities at Nakiska and Lake Louise — are all due for major overhauls whether or not Calgary gets the Games in 2026. Total costs for those upgrades could reach $600 million over the next decade, Sutherland estimates. But if Calgary can get assurance that provincial and federal governments will help support those reinvestments, “we’d be crazy not to host the Games.”
Still, Coun. Druh Farrell says she’s seen too much evidence that higher levels of debt are a significant risk.
“We are just exaggerating the benefits and glossing over the risks,” she said.
But Sutherland argued that the bid process for the 2026 Games is the first time in the history of the Olympics that a Canadian bid exploration committee has been created, solely for the purpose of ensuring it is fiscally prudent.
Jones added, “I think we can still go ahead with the $2 million, because there’s still enough off ramps in sight that we can turn back if we need to.”