The City of Calgary is set to finalize a report on the 2026 Olympic bid Monday and send it off to the provincial and federal governments for approval.
The city needs to send detailed financial estimates, a mission, vision and concept for venues and locations and will also need a schedule for the games all of which need to be submitted by June 30th.
This deadline needs to be met in order to get $10 million commitments from both the provincial and federal governments and that money would then be allocated for a $30 million bid for the 2026 Olympics.
Calgary city councillors will be meeting behind closed doors Monday as they look at ways for the games to be profitable, ensuring transportation throughout Calgary moves more efficiently and ensure the games create a lasting legacy.
Over the weekend, Calgary received support from the Canadian Olympic Committee to make a bid.
BIDCO chair Scott Hutcheson called it a positive step forward and a strong way for Calgary to continue to build transparent relationships with the community.
The last estimate, which was conducted over a year ago, revealed the games are expected to cost $4.6 billion dollars.
A plebiscite will be conducted in November to gauge public opinion which is an ultimatum from the province in order to get their support and that vote will cost the city just under $2 million.
Once that’s completed, and if it’s a favourable result, then Calgary will have until January 2019 to submit its bid book and take a shot at hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Cities in Italy, Austria, Sweden, Turkey and Japan are also interested in hosting these games.
The winning city will be announced in September 2019.
