City administrators open to 2026 Olympic bid but say financial conditions have to be met

Despite being "skeptical" that considerations around a 2026 Olympic bid will change much between now and next October, a report from administration coming to council on Monday says all strategies around mitigating financial risk should be explored.

As such, it recommends moving from an exploration phase to an invitation phase, which would require consultations between the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee (CBEC) and the Canadian Olympic Committee to determine how best to proceed.

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The report is similar to one presented by the CBEC to council last week, which found Calgary is capable of hosting the Olympics in 2026 — but whether or not that's a good idea remains an open question that can't yet be answered.

"It states unequivocally that Calgary is not willing to follow suit with previous Olympic games, where they're asking for guarantees on this, this and this, then it ends up to be quite disastrous in the end as far as the amount of money spent," Coun. Shane Keating told CBC News.

"But at the same time, we should be well open to the idea that if things change ... if it's not an extreme burden on the taxpayer of the city of Calgary, it's probably a beneficial activity, but if it is [a burden], then we shouldn't entertain it."

Report lists 5 principles

Funds remaining from the CBEC budget would be used to move the project forward. CBEC was given a $5-million budget and spent $3 million preparing its report.

The administration report includes five principles for bidding on the Games, which were also presented in the CBEC report. Those include:

• Capital costs be shared between the municipal, provincial and federal governments.
• Security costs be covered by other orders of government, "given the international nature of the event."
• Canadian taxpayers should not contribute directly to operating costs, instead those should be covered by ticket sales, sponsorship, broadcast rights, IOC contributions, and other earned revenues.
• Because the city has limited debt capacity, there must be a financial structure which accommodates cash flow and debt level constraints of the city.
• If the IOC requires financial guarantees, that they be provided by an entity other than the city or be deemed to be at an acceptable level for the city.

City council voted Monday against the idea of putting the Olympic bid to a plebiscite attached to the regular ballot in this October's municipal election.

The International Olympic Committee has set a deadline of October 2018 for bids on the 2026 Games.

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