SALT LAKE CITY – The Winter Olympics will return in style to Salt Lake City in 2034, the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday, marking the success of Utah’s decades-long effort to preserve Olympic venues and maintain public enthusiasm.
Local leaders already had their sights set on hosting again — and becoming part of a possible future rotation of winter host cities — even before Salt Lake City hosted its first Games in 2002. In the years since, continued use and maintenance of Olympic venues not only boosted Salt Lake City’s reputation as a winter sports destination, but became the main selling point for bringing back the Games.
“There was always the idea that the Games would happen again,” said Tom Kelly, spokesman for the Salt Lake City bid committee.
Utah’s capital was the only candidate the International Olympic Committee was considering to host in 2034. In the decades since Salt Lake City first opened its rinks near the world’s best winter athletes, the number of potential hosts has dwindled dramatically. The sporting spectacle is a notorious money pit, and of Climate Change reduced the number of sites capable of hosting. Although Salt Lake City was caught up in a bribery scandal that nearly derailed the 2002 Winter Olympics, it managed to get back into the good graces of an Olympic committee increasingly dependent on communities enamored with existing infrastructure as its options dwindled. .
Salt Lake City’s bid leaders boast they have created one of the most compact layouts in Olympic history, with all venues within an hour’s drive of the athletes’ village on the University of Utah campus. The plan they presented Wednesday to the Olympic committee in Paris does not require any new permanent construction, with all 13 venues already in place and each having played a role when the city first hosted.
These are the planned locations for 2034:
For the first time, Olympic officials are bringing Big Air to the heart of Salt Lake City. Organizers plan to erect a massive ski and snowboard ramp in a downtown parking lot, two blocks from Temple Square, a center of history and worship for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The block will also serve as a concert hall and medal plaza for winning athletes, as it did in 2002. While Park Place is a repeat location, the ramp is a new addition. Big Air snowboarding and skiing didn’t become Olympic events until 2018 and 2022, respectively.
Deer Valley alpine ski resort in Park City hosted the freestyle moguls, aerials and alpine slalom competitions in 2002. It is scheduled to host freestyle moguls and aerials again. The luxury resort in the Wasatch Mountains is located 35 miles east of Salt Lake City and is consistently ranked among the best ski resorts in North America. It regularly hosts International Ski and Snowboard Federation competitions and is packed with tourists in winter.
Home to the NBA’s Utah Jazz and a new NHL expansion team, the Delta Center is a year-round sports center in downtown Salt Lake City. It hosted the Olympic figure skating and short track speed skating competitions in 2002 and will host the same events in 2034.
Billionaire businessman Ryan Smith purchased the arena in 2020 and announced a year-long plan to renovate the facility to better accommodate the hockey franchise. When the Olympics return to the city, the Delta Center will likely have a new ice floor, expanded retractable seating, more nearby parking and a new video board suspended in the center. Smith also has ambitious plans to transform the surrounding area into a vibrant sports and entertainment district before 2034.
Park City Mountain will once again host halfpipe competitions after the resort made history at the 2002 Olympics by building the first 6.7-meter (22-foot) halfpipe to be used at the Winter Games. Men’s and women’s halfpipe snowboarding made their Olympic debut four years earlier on a smaller halfpipe, but the Park City facility later set the height standard that is still used in competition today.
The ski and snowboard resort, 50 kilometers east of Salt Lake City, will host slopestyle skiing and snowboarding, freestyle skiing and halfpipe skiing and snowboarding. In 2002, Park City Mountain also hosted the men’s giant slalom and the men’s and women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom events.
At the base of the slopes is Park City’s beloved Main Street, a shopping and dining destination that transforms every January into the home of the Sundance Film Festival.
Snowbasin Resort in Huntsville, about 35 miles north of Salt Lake City, will host the alpine skiing competitions. The all-season recreational facility, situated behind Mount Ogden, is home to the legendary courses from the 2002 Winter Games, which still exist today. It was the site of alpine ski races, the super giant slalom, or super-G, and the combined event consisting of a downhill race and two slalom races.
Snowbasin has invested in improving its facilities since the last Games, adding snowmaking facilities, modernizing ski lifts and building several restaurants, parking lots and changing rooms. The resort said it has secured the former site of its 25,000-seat stadium and can again host that number of spectators or more.
The Maverik Center in West Valley City, 10 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, was the premier venue for ice hockey in 2002 and will host the sport again in 2034. The 12,600-seat indoor arena is the home of minor league hockey. and basketball teams.
The Peaks Ice Arena will host ice hockey at the 2034 Games in addition to the Maverik Center. The indoor arena in Provo is located 69 kilometers south of Salt Lake City. It was built as an ice hockey and figure skating practice facility for the 2002 Winter Olympics and is now home to the Utah Valley University men’s ice hockey team.
Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City will host the opening and closing ceremonies, as it did in 2002. The outdoor college football stadium is home to the Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference . University donors have invested millions in renovating the stadium and increasing its capacity since the city last hosted the Olympic Games.
In the picturesque mountain town of Midway, 45 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center will host biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined events, as it did in 2002. The venue was built in 2002. Wasatch Mountain State Park for the 2002 Games. Since then, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation has transformed it into a place for cross-country skiing, tubing and snowshoeing in the winter, and a place for mountain biking and golf in the summer. It regularly hosts the US Cross Country Ski Championships and is a popular training location for elite athletes.
The 2002 Olympic Village was located up the hill from downtown Salt Lake City in historic Fort Douglas on the University of Utah campus. The university will once again be the site of the athletes’ village and will also provide housing for athletes’ families – an Olympic first.
The Utah Olympic Oval, a 5-acre (2-hectare) venue that is home to the state’s only 400-meter (1,312-foot) speed skating oval and two layers of ice, will once again host long track speed skating events. The facility, located 16 miles west of Salt Lake City in Kearns, was built in 2001. Nine world records were set at the Oval during the 2002 Games – the most world records set at an Olympic event. To keep the site operational, local leaders transformed it into a multi-use facility focused on developing youth and young adult participation in ice sports.
Utah Olympic Park is a world-class winter sports hub where athletes from around the world train year-round. The facility in Summit County, 28 miles east of Salt Lake City, was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It will be the 2034 host site for bobsled, freestyle ski cross, luge, Nordic combined skiing, skeleton sledding, ski jumping, parallel snowboarding and snowboard cross. Even in summer, ski jumpers can be seen diving into pools and bobsled down the track.
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