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.