Days after the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) said it would not bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and will look at 2022, Colorado’s Governor and Denver’s Mayor are to meet next week to discuss forming an exploration committee for a possible 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid.
Governor John Hickenlooper and Mayor Michael Hancock think that hosting an Olympics would be a huge opportunity for the state.
Hancock said, “it’s still early in the process, but we are very much interested in putting together a bid for 2022. It is time for us to start thinking about how we might pursue it”.
“There are so many people here, citizens, people who live in Denver who love the Olympics, and have spent a lot of time working on how would we prepare the state to host an Olympics. And to do it in such a way, in the process of doing that we make the state stronger and better”, said Hickenlooper, adding, “were we to do this, the whole state would have to come together and look at all kinds of solutions to things like the I-70 corridor”.
According to KWGN News, Hickenlooper views an Olympics as an opportunity to finally upgrade the congested I-70 mountain corridor without the state paying the bill.
Hersh said, “there long has been talk of alternative transportation to Vail. The 1992 Albertville Olympics brought high-speed rail into the hub of the French Alps. Could a 2022 Denver Olympics do the same for Colorado, boosting its tourism industry?”
Hancock said, “if we do it, obviously, it’s an opportunity for us to finally say we are global. We are globally competitive. It would be huge”.
