I’m coming around to the idea that a joint bid is the way to go, on the condition that you get two Olympiads out of it. Vancouver would be a far superior partner than Edmonton (too bad that it’s probably too late in the game to explore this, not to mention BC vs. AB political conflict). A partnership could mean anything (e.g. 50/50, 75/25, etc.), but I would lean towards at 55%/45% type set-up, where each city alternates as the ‘main’ host.
The games have more than doubled in size since ’88, so this could bring it down to a more appropriate size for each city.
Piloting this for the winter games would make a lot of sense for the IOC, as their current problem is actually an over-abundance of Olympiads requiring host cities (as strange as that is to believe for an event every 4 years) – because the supply of winter cities (especially in good time zones for viewership) is inherently limited.
For instance:
2026 - Canada (Calgary + Vancouver)
2030 - One-off bid
2034 - Europe (some France/Swiss/Italian/etc. partner combo)
2038 - One-off bid
2042 - Canada (Vancouver + Calgary)
A 20 or 24 year sequence might be even better, though opens up a lot more room for uncertainty and changing conditions; there would need to be some sort of off-ramp for the host cities ~10 years out.
I would run the opening ceremonies concurrently in each city, with athletes marching in the city hosting their events. It wouldn’t be impossible to ensure all events in supporting city end on Saturday; all athletes go to main city for closing ceremonies.
2026:
Calgary:
- 55% Opening Ceremonies
- Men's Hockey (new arena)
- Curling (new fieldhouse)*
- Short track (Saddledome)
- Long Track*
- Freestyle skiing & Snowboarding (newschool events) (COP)
- Slalom (and parallel slalom?), Snowboard racing (COP)
- Nordic (CNC)
- 100% Closing ceremonies
Vancouver:
- 45% Opening Ceremonies
- Figure Skating (Roger’s arena)
- Women's Hockey (Pacific Coliseum; medal rounds at Roger’s)
- Ski/board cross (Cypress)
- Moguls and aerials (Cypress)
- Downhill, Super G, GS, Combined* (Whistler)
- Ski Jumping* (always Whistler)
- Sliding* (perhaps always Whistler, unless we want to build a better track)
- Closing ceremonies viewing party
I don't think it would actually be much of an issue for LL to host them, but if Parks Canada really did want to prevent it, they could always be at Whistler. There's a push to have more slalom and parallel slalom events on tiny hills closer to urban centres, so I think it would work well to have split them from the speed alpine events - each host city gets a taste of alpine and has the stars come through.
Not sure about how easily the Richmond Oval or Hillcrest convert back to hosting big events? With a decent reno, Calgary oval probably makes sense as the 'permanent' venue. Calgary could also be permanent host for curling (fieldhouse designed accordingly).
At the next Olympiad, you can swap most of the events that are less specific to their venue.
|