Nenshi says many Olympic officials are excited by potential Calgary bid
Mayor was in Rio for vacation, but says he spoke to many about the city's interest in 2026 games
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says many officials in the international Olympic movement are excited to hear Calgary is considering another Olympic bid.
Nenshi spent his summer vacation in Brazil during the Rio Olympics. Although it was personal time, he spoke with many national and international officials about Calgary's possible bid for the 2026 winter Olympics.
"There's no question that everybody I talked to was super excited, that there is a lot of really good feelings about Calgary being a place that knows how to do this, that knows how to do this well and, quite frankly, that can help the IOC with some of its problems that are very well documented that they've had recently," he said.
"So yes, there's a lot of excitement about it. But it also has to be right for Calgary."
Exploration committee to be named
City council has approved spending up to $5 million to explore a potential bid. Community volunteers will be named to that exploration committee later this month.
Nenshi said Calgary needs to consider many factors before proceeding.
"Budgets, of course — figure out if we can afford this. We need to be talking particularly with the federal and provincial governments to see if they're behind this," he said.
"And we also need to figure out if this is the right time for Calgary and Canada to make a bid."
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