COC asks mayors for interest in Games bid
The Canadian Olympic Committee has unofficially kicked off the process to decide which Canadian city — if any — will be next to bid for a Winter or Summer Games.
Chris Overholt, the COC’s chief executive officer, quietly wrote letters last month to the mayors of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City and Montreal to ask if they would be interested in learning more about a possible bid.
The deadline for reply — with Calgary and Quebec City the most likely to jump at the opportunity in connection with the 2026 Winter Games — is the end of June.
From there, the COC, and perhaps also the International Olympic Committee, will dispatch a team of experts to the interested cities to discuss the bid process.
“I know from the international federations, they would love to see a bid coming out of Canada,” president Tricia Smith said from Regina where the COC session is meeting this weekend. “Having said that, it’s 10 or 12 years away.”
The 2018 Winter Games will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Tokyo is the host of the 2020 Summer Games, and the 2022 Winter Olympics are scheduled for Beijing. Citing concerns over costs, Toronto decided against bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“There are lots of possibilities if we were to have a bid,” Smith said of the 2026 Winter Games or 2028 Summer Games. “We have to go through the process first. Do we want a bid? Would it be winter or summer? If it was winter or summer, what city would it be?
The final call on whether Canada should bid belongs to the COC session, comprised of sports leaders from across the country.
A decision is expected by next spring or summer.
“The process is going to be open and transparent,” Smith pledged. “We still have to determine if a bid would be good for Canada.”
Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume travelled this week to the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss hosting the 2026 Winter Games in partnership with Lake Placid, N.Y., Calgary or Whistler, B.C.
“Really, I believe in it now,” Labeaume told Le Soleil after meeting with IOC officials on Monday. “I came here to verify my hypothesis, and my understanding is that it’s very serious.”
Due to concerns over escalating costs, the IOC has agreed to consider events hosted by multiple cities or even multiple countries, although the logistics of Quebec City sharing with Whistler or even Lake Placid might push the limits of plausibility.
Calgary is likely to bid on its own, in conjunction with nearby Canmore, Alta., with an eye to using many of the facilities that remain from the 1988 Winter Games.