Potential Olympic bid now has a name: Calgary 2026

Calgary 2026 is up and running. Work on a possible bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is shifting to a bid corporation incorporated under that name just days ago.

Bidco chair Scott Hutcheson, a commercial real estate mogul and former national-team skier, was introduced Tuesday to a Calgary city council committee overseeing bid work currently done by a city team.

Hutcheson said he intends to resign from various boards — including Own The Podium and Calgary’s WinSport — to avoid perceived conflict of interest with his new position.

The bid corporation board — which will include representation from the city, provincial and federal governments, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Canmore, Alta., and Indigenous communities — will meet for the first time on Thursday, Hutcheson said.

The first priority of Calgary 2026 is to hire a chief executive officer, he said. The International Olympic Committee’s deadline for 2026 bid books is January 2019.

The city, province and federal government are splitting the cost of the bidco’s work estimated at $30 million. The bid book is scheduled to be finished by the end of October.