2018 Winter Olympic Games
After years of campaigning and two, very close, second place finishes to Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014, Pyeongchang , South Korea was selected at the July 6, 2011 IOC meeting in Durban, South Africa to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games over Munich, Germany and Annecy, France. The vote was decisive with the Korean city winning easily in the first round with a wide majority of votes (71 of 103 total). Their quiet and persistent promotion served them well as they continued to seek the Games after their two extremely close but unsuccessful finishes.
At the Durban meeting, the well regarded and experienced Pyeongchang delegation remained confident and was even able to conduct their full presentation in both English and French, the official Olympic languages, instead of their native language. For some months prior to the decision, Pyeongchang was touted as the favorite but historically, perceived favorites have not always been successful and their over 70% majority among three candidates was of some surprise beating Munich (by 25 votes) and Annecy (by 7 votes). The French city’s low total was a particular disappointment to them as they had attempted to withdraw early in 2011 but were persuaded to remain in the hunt.
The Pyeongchang management team has already been selected and is already in Games preparation mode making plans to attend both the 2012 and 2014 games to gather Games operating information.
Reflecting the thoughts of other IOC members, IOC member Sergey Bubka, Olympic pole vault gold medalist and also Ukranian Olympic Committee president, indicated that Pyeongchang made a “close to perfect” bid. He particularly referenced the bid team’s experience, attention to protocol and business acumen as well as “the fact that they fulfilled all of the promises they made during prior bids.” Their hosting of multiple international events was also mentioned.
Pyeongchang’s “compact bid plan” was referenced by multiple voters. An emerging element was also its commitment to the maximum use of new technology for Games planning, design, construction and management as well as for all media and broadcast needs.
Annecy has indicated that they have no plan to bid again but Munich city leadership has remained enthusiastic about being the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics and has commented that participation in the bid process produced a very significant short and long term benefit to their city.
With the selection of an Asian host city following the Sochi 2014 Games considered to be a European games site, there is a strong and increasingly expressed belief that a North American city will be favored for 2022.
2020 Summer Olympic Games Bid Process
With a deadline of September 1, 2011, six major international cities and their national Olympic committees submitted their initial bids to potentially host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. There was much speculation and local and international sports media market testing before the final bids were announced by the IOC. They include:
- Baku, Azerbijan
- Doha, Qatar
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Madrid, Spain
- Rome, Italy
- Tokyo, Japan
All of these cities have some prior experience either as a prior host (Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964) or as a prior games bidder (Baku during the early stages of 2016, Istanbul in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 but never as a finalist; Madrid in 2016 as a finalist; and Doha during the early stages of 2016). Doha, the selected host of the 2022 Soccer World Cup, has been on a run of major event bids including the 2017 World Track and Field Championships, although they have to continually address the calendar and the high heat levels found in their country during the normal Games period. They have been granted a possible move to September but this slight chance is expected to have little impact.
The IOC has outlined the timetable for the 2020 bidding process with the first hurdle being in May 2012 when the IOC will announce its candidate field confirming the cities still in the running. In January 2013, the official bid dossiers for the remaining cities are to be submitted to the IOC and shortly thereafter an IOC Evaluation Committee will visit each city between February and April 2013. A comparative evaluation report will then be prepared for all IOC members and the finalist cities then invited to Lausanne, Switzerland in May 2013 for a presentation to all interested IOC members with the final vote and decision scheduled for July 2013. All of the bidding cities have announced their bid leadership with most being key public officials or well-known and credible business leaders. More specific city-by-city information will be provided in future newsletters.
While it had been discussed widely, the USOC decided not to present a candidate city for 2020 consideration with the comment that the IOC/SOC revenue sharing agreement long in negotiation needed to be completed prior to any USOC nomination. The USOC notified all of the U.S. communities that had expressed interest as well as communities with interests for a 2022 Winter Games bid.
2022 Winter Olympic Games Bid
With the decision by the USOC not to submit a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, America’s next chance to host an Olympics would be the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Although no bid has been requested for these Games by the IOC, both Denver and Reno-Tahoe are known to be interested in a bid and very preliminary private discussions and informal meetings have been conducted. The national and international media have also identified these two locations as logical and leading candidates if the Games might return to the U.S. Much of what will happen here and the timing of any effort will depend in great part on how the 2020 bid develops. It is noteworthy that it will be 20 years following the 2002 games in 2022.
There have also been some other 2022 candidates proposed including:
- A joint bid from Davos/St. Moritz, Switzerland. St. Moritz is a two time Olympic host (in 1928 and 1948). To date, the IOC has discouraged two city bids.
- A Ukraine 2022 bid. The number of former Soviet-country bids is expected to increase but there are limited winter facilities here.
- Quebec City has also discussed a bid both entering and withdrawing their interest several times. They were a prior candidate in 2002 and 2010.
The USOC has been clear that no bid will be made until the circumstances maximize the United States chance for success and the IOC/USOC television and sponsorship revenue split negotiations are completed. To this end, the USOC leadership is traveling the world and building bridges to the broad Olympic movement. At the appropriate time, this leadership will seek input from the full range of U.S. Olympic constituencies.
2012 Summer Olympic Games-London
As the 2012 Summer Games are approaching in less than 300 days, all systems and procedures appear to be well on track if not ahead of schedule. The most recent IOC Coordination Committee visit on October 5-7, 2011 concluded with high marks from all members with all games venues and operational procedures on or ahead of schedule. Of particular interest to the group was the high quality of the test events held to date.
Results to date point to the highest level ever for sponsorship revenue for a Games with ticket revenue also at an all-time high with most events already sold out. By games time, it is expected that all events may be totally sold out. The level of ticket sales is so high that the major issue at this point is protecting British consumers from ticket scalping due to the high level of sales which were made to groups formed for that purpose.
With the high revenue levels, games preparation continues ahead of schedule with the only widely discussed issue being the potential post-Games use of some key venues, particularly the main stadium. As with all games, however, there are a multitude of low level political and social issues which come to the forefront but which will have little impact on the actual Games.
2014 Winter Olympic Games-Sochi
Preparations for the next Winter Games on the calendar are still progressing well primarily due to a massive infusion of cash from the central government. From the time that he appeared at the IOC session where the 2014 Games site was chosen, Vladimir Putin, as both President and Prime Minister and, likely, President again, has placed an enormous amount of Russian resources behind the Sochi Games. This has resulted in very extensive infrastructure construction, not just upgrades –but actual first time construction including roads, airports, housing, etc.
This was critical as the Sochi area is best known as a Black Sea summer resort with nearby mountains. The construction of winter sports facilities has added another complicating factor with the decline of the Russian oil-based economy also contributing. For all of these reasons, the IOC analysis of the level of preparation here is being held to a different standard knowing that all will be ready by games-time consistent with prior Russian/Soviet major sports events.
The decision of Putin to return to his previous role as President, ensures that the needed funds will continue to be provided and that he will continue to ‘encourage’ major Russian companies to be and continue to be major financial supporters.