A No-Go: Athletes and officials weigh in after Calgary votes ‘no’ to 2026 bid
TORONTO — Rotating Olympic hosts? A single go-to destination every four years? Maybe dump the bid process altogether?
There are no easy answers for what has become a challenging effort of late: finding interested and qualified suitors to host the Winter Games.
Calgary essentially scuttled plans for a 2026 bid after the ‘no’ side’s plebiscite victory Tuesday. That left Stockholm and Milan-Cortina as the only contenders and both have already had issues with significant hurdles still to clear.
Canada’s previous efforts to host the Winter Games, Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010, were by and large considered success stories. However, massive cost overruns from other host cities — notably Sochi in 2014 — have helped stoke Olympic hangover worries.