Brice Wallace
The Olympics ultimately are about gold, silver and bronze, but a new report about a possible 2034 Games in Utah focuses on the green.
Research released last week by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah indicates that a 2034 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games would result in an estimated $6.6 billion impact in economic output in the 2024-35 time period.
“Hosting the 2034 Winter Games will have significant positive economic and fiscal impacts for the state,” the report concludes.
The International Olympic Committee will vote July 24 on the location for the 2034 Games, with Utah expected to be chosen as the host city.
The Gardner Institute worked with the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games to determine the potential economic and fiscal impacts of hosting the event, which includes direct expenditures and additional economic activity, jobs and revenue generated in the state.
The research shows that having the 2034 Games would result in net new direct spending in Utah of $2.6 billion (in 2023 dollars), state gross domestic product of nearly $3.9 billion, employment of over 42,000 job-years, and personal income of $2.5 billion.
The $2.6 billion net new spending figure is derived by starting with an estimated $4.1 billion in total expenditures by the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, the federal government and out-of-state visitors, and then subtracting purchases from out-of-state companies, in-state revenue sources, and the displacement of regular skier visitation.
The $4.1 billion figure includes rights revenue sharing with the national and international Olympic and Paralympic committees, contingency and legacy amounts, royalties and other fees, plus spending by out-of-state visitors and federal security expenditures.
Estimated state fiscal impacts in the 2024-35 period include new state revenues of $167.2 million (in 2023 dollars) and expenditures of $146.2 million, for net fiscal revenues of $21 million. Estimated local fiscal impacts are projected at $138.1 million in new revenues and $108.8 million in expenditures, for net local revenues of $29.3 million.
While the 2002 Games resulted in spending of $286.7 million (in 2023 dollars) for facilities, continued use and maintenance of those venues since then has left the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games to budget only $31.2 million in capital investments for the 2034 Games, in the form of modest permanent upgrades at the venues. The committee also has budgeted $206.2 million for temporary infrastructure, signage and wayfinding at both competition and non-competition venues.
In fiscal years 2019-24, the Utah Legislature appropriated a total of $94.6 million in one-time and ongoing funds to maintain and upgrade the state’s winter sports facilities.
For comparison, the report included figures related to the economic impact of the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. They include approximately $7.5 billion in economic output, 45,700 job-years of employment, and $3.7 billion in personal income. The 2002 Winter Games also resulted in growth for the state’s travel and tourism industry.
The Gardner Institute hosted a Newsmaker Breakfast last week to discuss the economic figures in the new report, but that event occurred after Business Journal deadlines.
If Utah lands the 2034 Games, it would join Lake Placid, New York, as the only U.S. location to host the Winter Games twice, as Lake Placid did in 1932 and 1980. The only other U.S. site for a Winter Games was Squaw Valley, California, in 1960. Other sites to host two Winter Games are St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928 and 1948, and Innsbruck, Austria, in 1964 and 1976.