(ATR) The joint Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo bid for the 2026 Olympics has IOC approval to move forward without financial support from the Italian government.
Traditionally, federal government funding has been a cornerstone to any viable Olympic bid. But AP is reporting IOC President Thomas Bach, at the conclusion of meetings with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, says financial support from the regional governments involved in the bid was enough.
"This candidature is very strong because it reflects the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020," Bach is quoted by APat the end of his visit to Rome.
"The guarantees which have been expressed by Lombardy and Veneto are very important to secure the overall candidature. That is well appreciated by the IOC."
Calgary and Stockholm are the other two bidders for the 2026 Winter Olympics, and neither has secured government backing. A new center-right government in the city of Stockholm has said it opposes the Olympic project, although Stockholm 2026 says it intends to convince them of the merits of the bid.
Calgary’s bid goes before voters in a non-binding plebiscite on November 13. But should the bid win the support of Calgarians, there is no guarantee the Calgary City Council will approve its part of the funding for the project.
The city council kept the bid alive last week, after an 11th-hour funding agreement was reached between the federal and provincial governments on how to pay for the public portion of the bid cost.
But the council has yet to begin deliberations on how to pay for its share, which is CAN$370 million in cash, along with an additional CAN$20 million to pay for CAN$200 million in insurance to cover potential cost overruns.
Eight of the 15 councilors voted to end the bid last week, two short of the two-thirds majority needed. Clearly they are waiting to see if it survives the plebiscite before putting any more work into the process.
At his press conference in Rome, AP reports that Bach reiterated that the IOC has no Plan B should all three of the current bidders back out and ruled out any re-opening of the 2026 bidding race.
Questions about a backup plan have surfaced recently with news of an accelerated timeline to choose a 2030 candidate city for the United States that would conceivably allow the 2030 winner to also bid for 2026.
Argentina has also expressed interest in 2026 with a joint bid featuring Buenos Aires and Ushuaia.
Written by Gerard Farek
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