Planning ahead.
It is never too early to start a political campaign. There is one shaping up in Colorado as pro-Winter Olympics forces are ready to battle those who don’t want to see an Olympics in the state in 2030. Both sides are hoping to get state residents to either say yes or no to a proposal, should Colorado host the 2030 Winter Olympics? That event is 12 years out but the planning for future Olympics starts more than a decade before the Olympic flame is lit. The International Olympic Committee’s timeline requires local committees to bidding years before the event. The IOC is scheduled to hand out the 2030 Winter Games in 2023 but since cities and countries are turning down the chance to host the money-losing taxpayers’ subsidized sporting event, timelines have been changing. The IOC grabs whatever country wants its event.
A Denver Olympics exploratory committee made up of political and business leaders has recommended that a bid should be pursued but that Colorado voters should have the opportunity to decide on its feasibility. Colorado has had experience with an Olympics vote. Denver was supposed to host the 1976 Olympics, but Colorado voters had a different view on the matter. In November, 1972, Colorado voters by a 3 to 2 margin said no to taking out a $5 million bond to help subsidize the Games. That ended the bid with Colorado becoming the first area to say no to the IOC about two years after the IOC gave Denver the event. Denver 2030 backers think the 2030 event could cost somewhere between $1.5 and $2.5 billion and that is in 2018 money values. There is opposition. A group called NOlympics wants a vote also. The group wants an anti-Olympic question on the ballot. The Olympics campaign has started.
Colorado voters said no to a 1976 Demver Winter Olympics in 1972.
