City officials were at Winsport on Tuesday morning to provide an update on a recent visit to Calgary by members of the International Olympic Committee to evaluate a possible bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Last week, five IOC members visited the city and some of the venues that were used in the 1988 Winter Olympics to get a sense of how the bid process is going and what the next steps might be.

The members paid their own way as part of a new process to evaluate bidding cities and to lend support and resources to strengthen Olympic bids.

The group looked at transportation, infrastructure, existing facilities, security and organization to determine if Calgary is able to support another games.

“The visit was very productive,” said Kyle Ripley, Director of the Calgary 2026 Olympic Bid Project. “Our project team was able to openly discuss our plans and challenges and we learned a great deal about the new Candidature process and the new IOC criteria.”

“Our visit to Calgary was a great opportunity to speak with city and provincial leaders about the IOC's new approach to bidding for and organizing the Olympic Winter Games,” said Jacqueline Barrett, Associate Director, Olympic Candidatures. “By working with each city and National Olympic Committee to understand the context and their project, we can provide on-site expertise and technical assistance to help cities develop a project that aligns with local, regional and national long term goals and allows for the hosting of more sustainable, cost- effective Olympic Winter Games.”

"We also heard that the IOC believes that Calgary would be an incredible host city, thanks to our legacy infrastructure from the 1988 Games and to our commitment to winter sports excellence, our volunteerism and our diversity. We pride ourselves on these things and so it was wonderful to hear that those values are apparent to our international colleagues," said Ripley.

Ripley says the estimated cost of a bid would be in the neighbourhood of $30 million and the preferred funding model would see each of the three levels of government contribute roughly a third.

“We need to secure support from the key stakeholders, the City of Calgary, Government of Alberta, Government of Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and with that support we can move forward with the development of a bid corporation. I think at that point in time we would look to corporate Calgary, philanthropists, to help support that endeavor and also their support of our project,” said Ripley.

The city says it will take the following steps going forward:

  • Calgary City Council has directed the project team to pursue funding commitments for a possible BidCo from the other two orders of government.
  • If funding commitments are secured, City Council would need to decide whether to pursue the development of a BidCo, and the IOC would make additional Expert Visits between March and June of this year.
  • We plan to send a delegation to participate in the PyeongChang Observer Programme. The Observer Programme gives Interested Cities an opportunity to experience the Winter Games first-hand and meet with experts about all aspects of Games management, which would support the development of a stronger bid. If we learn before the PyeongChang Games that the other orders of government will not provide a funding commitment, or if City Council decides not to pursue a bid, we have arranged for travel insurance to cover cancellation costs, if necessary.

Council is expected to make a decision on pursuing the bid by late March.