Many of today's Utahns weren't even born yet when the state's voters approved a referendum that endorsed building $59 million in Olympic facilities with their tax dollars, long before Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Games.
SALT LAKE CITY — Many of today's Utahns weren't even born yet when the state's voters approved a referendum that endorsed building $59 million in Olympic facilities with their tax dollars, long before Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Games.
Rather than Olympic venues, "first and foremost, they're community facilities," he said, adding, "the nice side benefit is any enhancements that are made, we will make good use of during the Games." Still, Salt Lake City quickly jumped back into the race to host a Winter Games, negotiating a slowdown in the construction schedule with what was then the U.S. Olympic Committee to reduce operation and maintenance costs.
The foundation ended up with a larger endowment from the Games, a total of $76 million. Olympic organizers also spent some $65 million on the trio of legacy facilities, including a dramatic new roof for the speedskating oval.The foundation has spent more the $234 million to run the facilities, investing nearly $80 million in capital improvements, members of the Legislature's new Olympic and Paralympic Coordination Committee were told at their first meeting in mid-June.
By 2028, when a 10-year agreement with the Legislature to provide what's anticipated to be $44 million to the foundation is due to expire, the total expenditures may exceed $140 million. "I know the numbers sound large," Colin Hilton, the foundation's president and CEO, said. "But we are being, in my opinion, very appropriate in our spending to balance the community uses and the uses of these facilities for a future Games."
There's still work that needs to be done there, like replacing the plastic grass used in warm weather on the 120-foot ski jump that's been repeatedly patched over two decades. Last winter's record snowfall resulted in an avalanche that damaged the massive jump. What's being done, Hilton said, "is enhancing the Olympic venues to support winter sport in the state of Utah. These are for everyday support of athletes' training and hosting events," as well as providing community uses.
Utah has been pursuing another Olympics for more than a decade, but it wasn't until December 2018 that what's now the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee selected Salt Lake City over Denver to bid on behalf of the country for a future Winter Games. Bullock said he hopes another Winter Games in Utah will be able to leave a large enough endowment for the foundation to fund future projects at the facilities. The bid leader said that's "a lofty goal ... but it's possible."Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah who's authored books about the Olympics, said given how much money is going into the facilities, he believes most Utahns would likely want to see their tax dollars spent elsewhere.
That's what happened before the 1989 referendum that voters ended up approving even though it meant, in effect, building $59 million in Olympic facilities with no guarantee the Winter Games were even coming to Utah, let alone that the event would be profitable.
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