SALT LAKE CITY — Utah political leaders met with members of the International Olympic Committee to discuss the potential for Salt Lake City to host another Winter Olympics.
"It was a great meeting," Governor Spencer Cox told reporters following the meeting on Tuesday.
The governor, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and some former Olympic athletes met to sell the IOC on choosing Utah to either host the 2030 or 2034 games.
The 2002 Winter Olympics were among the most successful games staged. Utah has several advantages, the governor said he told the IOC. Polling shows an overwhelming majority — nearly 80% of Utahns — support hosting another Olympics.
"This is the most compact games that can be held anywhere. They loved that," he said. "They loved that every venue is within an hour of the village, most of the venues are within a half hour of the village. That doesn’t happen everywhere else."
The other advantage is Utah still has most of its Olympic venues still in operation.
"We don't have to build anything," he said.
Fraser Bullock, the president of the Salt Lake-Utah Committee for the Games, said the IOC was receptive.
"Our exchange with the Future Host Commission was very positive and encouraging. We feel the IOC sees great value in our vision for the Games and we are optimistic about the Winter Games returning to America in either 2030 or 2034," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
The IOC will not announce a future host city until next year. Gov. Cox said he was confident Salt Lake City would win one of the bids.
"We feel very confident we will get one of those spots," he told FOX 13 News. "The question is which spot."
