Coalition not giving up on Tahoe-Reno Olympics
By Ed Vogel, Las Vegas Review-Journal
CARSON CITY — The Sochi Olympics are expected to cost $51 billion. And a study shows that only six of the 19 cities that hosted past Winter Olympics will have enough snow to host them after 2100.
There is a movement for the Olympics to return to Tahoe. Photo/LTN
Squaw Valley hosted the 1960 Winter Games, but it won’t have the snow to host another Olympics by 2050, according to a study released in January by the University of Waterloo in Canada.
So what’s going to happen to the dream of Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition? They repeatedly have tried to coax the U.S. and International Olympic committees to award a winter games to the Reno-Tahoe area.
“We still believe Lake Tahoe will be the next region in North America to host a Winter Olympics games,” said Krolicki, chairman of the Reno Tahoe coalition for nearly a decade. “It is our passion. It is a dream you have to believe in. It would be an incredible chance to showcase our region and improve tourism and economic development for generations.”
He noted Wednesday that 55,000 tickets were sold for a curling tournament in Las Vegas last month, evidence that even Southern Nevadans would be eager for a Reno-Tahoe Winter Olympics. Corny as curling might be, it has become one of the favorite Winter Olympics sports.
When the U.S. Olympic Committee decided against having an American city bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics two years ago, the Reno Tahoe coalition just changed the year on its T-shirts and immediately began talking about hosting the 2026 Winter Games.
The environmental coalition to stop anything from happening will prevent the winter games from ever being held in the basin.
However, the League to Enslave Lake Tahoe & TRPA have no say over Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Northstar, Mt. Rose, Boreal or Sugar Bowl.
If this group wants to hold the games at these North Lake resorts, it could happen.
Oh Please Bitter, your constant name calling is really old and your arguments are neutored by it. The reason we can’t compete for the Olympics is money. In 1960, it cost $80 million to put on the games at Squaw Valley; Sochi is $51 billion. The Tahoe Coalition has to up the bet or fold.
I would love to see the Olympics here. But I don’t believe it would be right to bill the taxpayers, most of whom in the area are middle class, for such an extravagant expense. The IOC is out of control. It’s all about money. A shame.
That sounds kind of….. socialist…..
Maybe Tahoe should start a “Mini-Olympics” and hold them alternative years of the regular Olympics (both winter and summer). Maybe I’m waking up toooo early these days :-)
Why couldn’t it be done in Northern Cal Northern New. If we used the arenas around the region it would reduce the cost of having to build. The Shark Tank in San Jose, the new Kings Arena in Sacramento plus the new Warriors Arena in SF. New infrastructure for the Tahoe Reno area would help bring tourist back well after the games. Salt Lake has some of the best training facilities on earth and draws a ton of visitors and athletes year round. Think outside your shell people.
HOW many people? WHERE? This isn’t 1960. You who claim to love the Lake Tahoe area would do that to the lake’s clarity The roads, the traffic? The congestion.?The potholes? With the exception of Irish ya’ll need to think about what you’re saying. ‘Everybody wants an egg from the golden goose, but no-one cares if they’re the one that kills that golden goose’-Todd Rundgren
Irish Wahini, A “Mini- Olympics” sounds good and would be a tremendous boost to our economy but there would be several things that would make it quite difficult if not impossible.
Good and bad. We’ve got great skiing all around us and Heavenly has extensive snow making but limited parking at every resort and to get to each resort we’ve got two lane roads. So possibly a traffic issue. Mass transit?
Secondly, could our infrastructure accomadate the huge crowds of people. We manage now on a holiday weekend, but lots of improvements would have to be made. Would STPUD be up to the task?
The Casinos and every vacation rental would be full. Lots of TOT for the city!!! Restaurants, stores, gas stations, and just about everything would be as busy as all get out.
You know the old saying “sometimes you have to spend money to make money” and in our case hopefully some return visitors. I don’t know where the big bucks would come from to put this on but it’s a good idea anyway.
Maybe try it out on a small scale at first to see how it would work. Take care, Old Long Skiis
Let’s be honest with ourselves, take a lot of walks around this city and adjacent areas. Go into a lot of public restrooms if it is even safe. This area has had a terrible post 911 reputation.
On the plus side, supposedly around 2075 the snow level will be around 8K feet versus the 6K or so now. This leaves room for Heavenly Nevada and Mt. Rose with fake snow to do a downhill and a super G most likely, even under the worst weather scenario. Everything else after that should be relatively easy. On the other hand, the way public facilities are operated around here, it will be an uphill struggle apparently to get social cohesiveness to pull off such a huge encompassing project. Kinda embarrassing to hire a bunch of illegal immigrants to do the labor for an event in the name of national pride.
another “build it and they will come” dream. Yes the Olympics in Tahoe will make some folks millions, but it isn’t going to make the average person living and working in Tahoe squat.
“The Casinos and every vacation rental would be full”
yeah, and that house you rent is going to be vacated by the landlord to charge for two weeks what he gets from you in two years. BTW, the Olympics are in mid Feb, sometimes over Presidents’ Day weekend – and it used to be, that above statement was true every holiday weekend, so maybe with a little better service, Tahoe could get back to that w/o spending what will surely top 100 billion by the time frame we are talking.
Someone did have a good suggestion – this all in one place mentality makes the Olympics a boondoggle. Certainly skiing events in the Sierra make sense, but building an ice arena from scratch (that will never be economic to maintain) when there are ones in San Jose and buildings that can be used as one in Sac and Reno)is a waste of resources and tax payers money that will be used to build much of the the infrastructure – we just don’t need that level of infrastructure to service our normal visitation patterns – sorry folks, but it doesn’t make economic sense to build the church for Easter Sunday.
Sochi cost so much because there was absolutly nothing there before, no hotels,or anything else, it all had to be built. We already have many things that could be used for the olympics
Wonder what that new competitive hockey program at SLT, that rock mound on ice community, ice skating, ect… venues think about expanding the city facilities here.
You wouldn’t be able to move in this town for the six weeks surrounding the Olympics. You couldn’t build enough infrastructure if you had the time and money. It would be like New Years Eve and 4th of July every day from two weeks prior, to two weeks following. Good luck getting to work, shopping, church. School would have to be postponed due to traffic and crowds. And that would be in GOOD weather, now figure in a couple of feet of fresh snow every 10 days or so.
But these guys will keep pushing as long as someone else pays their way. Why not?
The venue will most likely span from approximately Reno to the Truckee area, to Kirkwood. That is a huge area to spread out housing, and events. Massive free public transit should alleviate transit issues.
Okay, Some good points made in regards to a full on Olympics or even a scaled down one on an off year.
The idea of putting on the Olympics here has been tossed around for years but the impracticial options, long distances between venues, enormous cost, envioromental concerns, infrastructure, etc. of doing this has always seem insurmountable.
As far as me getting kicked out of my house? That won’t happen as I own it plus a rental. So I’ll kick them out!! You see that was my plan all along!!! I’ll rub my greedy hands together with dollar signs in my eyes, as I become rich beyond my wildest dreams!!! BUUUWWAAAHHAAAHAA!!! LOL.
All in all it’s just not feasible. Let Reno do it and we’ll get the overflow. Old Long Skiis
How about the local ski areas just hosting some of the regional, national and world qualifying events. That would bring people up to town, or maybe the x games. It seems these events move around the country but they concentrate in utah or colorado. I know heavenly usto hold events but not in the last 8 or 10 years.
go figure:
I like your suggestions. If I recall correctly there was a recent attempt to bring the X-Games to the Tahoe area but due to the lack of adequate large scale broadband in the basin their broadcasting needs couldn’t be accommodated here. Another unfortunate but glaring example of how being 30-years or more behind in technology infrastructure limits opportunities in our community.
go figure, You’re right! Heavenly did host the World Cup on the Face many years ago. Didn’t draw a huge crowd but the skiers were some of the best in the world. The one I’m thinking of was more than 10 years ago but I’m not sure of the date. But I do remember it being fun to watch. FWSA ,(Far West Ski Asoc.) also had races there with pro and semi pro’s in the starting gate at various times of the season.
These type of races Tahoe can accomodate with no problem. Hope to see something like this in the future. OLS
Long Skiis. I too am having a hard time remembering the last “contest” at Heavenly. I am think like fifteen years ago or more. Even a smaller event brings attention to Lake Tahoe. Who knows, perhaps local athletes would show their skills too.