Depending on whether the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) decides to submit a bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Nevada’s Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki told a group of 50 snow-sports journalists Tuesday, it was an opportunity for a Reno-Tahoe 2022 Winter Olympic bid.
At least two groups are lobbying to bid for the 2022 Games.
He said that the region looks like it could handle the event. Even with some events in Reno and some in Sacramento, it would be a relatively compact venue compared to other Olympics.
But a Reno newspaper reports he noted that a lack of infrastructure was a primary disadvantage to a 2022 Tahoe Games, although he said the positives of having the Olympics in the area outweighed the negatives.
Krolicki said the region could benefit from hosting a Winter Olympics well into the future. “The physical legacies that we can do are great. That would include a public transportation system that would serve this area far after the Games would be held”.
He said the next 18 months will serve as a make-or-break period in a quest to bring the Games back to the area for the first time since the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics. He added if all goes according to plan, spectators will be jammed into Mackay Stadium at 7 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2022 for the Opening Ceremonies.
“We will yield to whatever is in the best interests of the United State Committee, but if they call for a bid for 2022, we are going to be ready. And it’s gonna be one helluva of a bid”.
