ENVIRONMENT
Those of us who call the Reno-Tahoe region home live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Lake Tahoe is at the top of the list of the most photographed natural wonders in the world. The sensitive nature of our environment is of absolute importance to all of us. Any bid to host the Olympic Winter Games would be formed with the utmost consideration to our environmental issues. The International Olympic Committee has adopted the Environment as the Fourth Pillar of the Olympic Movement.
The four Pillars include: the Athletes, Sports, Culture and the Environment. Additionally, the IOC endorses the efforts of the United Nations in including a white-paper entitled Agenda 21 that further outlines the efforts of the IOC and its constituencies to observe and include the guidelines as a vital part of any bid effort. The Reno-Tahoe area, and in particular Lake Tahoe and its area communities, have a number of strong advocates for maintaining and enhancing the environment. These groups, of all interest levels and types, will be included to the greatest extent possible in the development and presentation of the bid and in developing environmentally-friendly means of planning and conducting the Games. The coordination of all of the existing, and any groups formed in the future, will be an ongoing effort for Games organizers. The existence and current community status of existing environmental groups will add to the credibility of the bid for International Olympic Committee officials and members. The ultimate goal of the bid would be to not only alleviate the environmental footprint of hosting the Games, but to also enhance environmental sustainability throughout the region for years after hosting the Games.
FUNDING THE OLYMPIC GAMES
The Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The organization relies completely on donations, grants, fundraising events and management of sports events for funding.
One of the critical elements for all bids, and one which has derailed more than one otherwise first class bid, is ensuring the timely availability and sufficient level of bid funding. For a bid to progress effectively, it is important to have sufficient funds to attend key USOC and IOC meetings, to retain sufficient staff to plan and conduct bid business, to conduct necessary planning components for the bid, to prepare needed promotional material and to maintain and conduct all of the needed media relations activities associated with the bid.
It is a key strategy for the Reno-Tahoe bid to make its intentions known early and aggressively once candidates are requested by the USOC.
Entitled The Olympic Program (TOP), large international corporations like Coca-Cola and Xerox sponsor the Games through their involvement with the International Olympic Committee. Hundreds of millions of dollars are passed through to Games organizing committees from the IOC's TOP sponsorship program. To balance the budgetary necessities of running a Games, it will be necessary for a Reno/Tahoe Games organizing committee, in partnership with the USOC, to raise approximately $300 million from all other sources to conduct the Games. While this is a large sum of money, there are a number of areas where these funds can be developed, including:
- U.S. based sponsors in categories not reserved for the TOP Program
- Western regional (California, Nevada and elsewhere) sponsors in non-TOP sponsorship categories
- Nevada-based companies (including Las Vegas)
- Local Reno-based companies and organizations
As was evident in Utah, the range of possible companies in the categories noted above is large and diverse. With the proximity of Northern California and the Bay Area, the potential for significant financial support from companies based there is substantial. In these categories, the individual sponsorships are priced from $5 million to $30 million and can include a number of value-in-kind (products and/or services) supporters. Much of the corporate, governmental, community and other support can be in the form of donated products and services needed to conduct the Games, many in areas of supply and products readily donated by regional companies.
One of the concerns for many Winter Olympic Games is the relatively low number of potential ticket buyers within a 4-5 hour radius of the Games site. Typically, the population density and concentration within that radius around many Olympic-level mountain resorts is light. For Reno-Tahoe, in addition to the core population of over 350,000 in the area, over 13 million people from Northern California can be included within “day-trip” distance.
In the past, non-local ticket buyers have been generally limited to no more than 20% of tickets sold. For many potential Winter Games venues, the local base is not sufficient to purchase the remaining 80% of the tickets at the level of prices which are now established. This will not be a problem in Reno-Tahoe.
- U.S. based sponsors in categories not reserved for the TOP Program
- Western regional (California, Nevada and elsewhere) sponsors in non-TOP sponsorship categories
- Nevada-based companies (including Las Vegas)
- Local Reno-based companies and organizations
HOST CITIES OF THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES
The modern era of the Olympic Games began in 1896 when Athens, Greece hosted the Summer Games. Winter Games were first added to the Olympic program in 1924, when Chamonix, France hosted a gathering of the world’s elite winter athletes. No Olympic Games were held in 1916 due to the outbreak of World War I. No Olympic Games took place after the 1936 Games in Berlin, due to outbreak of World War II. The Games returned in 1948 when the winter edition was held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Both the Winter and Summer Games were held in the same year from 1924 to 1992. Since then the Games schedule has been staggered so that one takes place every two years, with the Winter and Summer Games alternating. Following is a list of the Host Cities of the Olympic Games:
Year |
Winter Games |
Summer Games |
| 1896 | Athens, Greece | |
| 1900 | Paris, France | |
| 1904 | St. Louis, United States | |
| 1908 | London, England | |
| 1912 | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| 1916 | Antwerp, Belgium | |
| 1924 | Chamonix, France | Paris, France |
| 1928 | St. Moritz, Switzerland | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| 1932 | Lake Placid, United States | Los Angeles, United States |
| 1936 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Germany Berlin, Germany |
| 1948 | St. Moritz, Switzerland | London, England |
| 1952 | Oslo, Norway | Helsinki, Finland |
| 1956 | Cortina d"Ampezzo, Italy | Melbourne, Australia |
| 1960 | Squaw Valley, United States | Rome, Italy |
| 1964 | Innsbruck, Austria | Tokyo, Japan |
| 1968 | Grenoble, France | Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1972 | Sapporo, Japan | Munich, Germany |
| 1976 | Innsbruck, Austria | Montreal, Canada |
| 1980 | Lake Placid, United State | Moscow, Russia |
| 1984 | Sarajevo, Yugoslavia | Los Angeles, United States |
| 1988 | Calgary, Canada | Seoul, Republic of Korea |
| 1992 | Albertville, France | Barcelona, Spain |
| 1994 | Lillehammer, Norway | |
| 1996 | Atlanta, United States | |
| 1998 | Nagano, Japan | |
| 2000 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 2002 | Salt Lake City, United States | |
| 2004 | Athens, Greece | |
| 2006 | Torino, Italy | |
| 2008 | Beijing, China | |
| 2010 | Vancouver, Canada | |
| 2012 | London, England | |
| 2014 | Sochi, Russia | |
| 2016 | Rio de Jainero, Brazil | |
| 2018 | Pyeongchang, South Korea | |
| 2020 | Tokyo, Japan |
THEMES OF THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES
Themes are the topics for which Candidate Cities must supply detailed information to assist the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in making its choice for a Host City. The IOC currently lists 17 Themes for Candidate Cities to gather and present data. This list was comprised from the 2018 IOC Candidature Procedure & Questionnaire:
- Theme 1 – Vision, legacy & communication
- Theme 2 – Overall concept of the Olympic Games
- Theme 3 – Political and economic climate and structure
- Theme 4 – Legal aspects
- Theme 5 – Customs and immigration formalities
- Theme 6 – Environment and meteorology
- Theme 7 – Finance
- Theme 8 – Marketing
- Theme 9 – Sport and venues
- Theme 10 – Paralympic Games
- Theme 11 – Olympic village(s)
- Theme 12 – Medical services and doping control
- Theme 13 – Safety and security
- Theme 14 – Accommodation
- Theme 15 – Transport
- Theme 16 – Technology
- Theme 17 – Media operations
TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
The existing Reno Sparks Convention Center is already a suitable facility to hold the full world broadcast operation. The adjacent and nearby hotel resorts, including the Atlantis, the Peppermill and the Grand Sierra Resort, are sufficiently large enough to meet all broadcast accommodation needs. Significantly, this usually difficult area has ready-made solutions. The Convention Center and the Broadcast core hotels and facilities provide all necessary technology to conduct the Games. Excluding equipment provided by Games' sponsors and Games' broadcasters, all necessary communications, facilities and wireless technology currently exists, at a level consistent with what would be expected in any major city. This technology availability exists not only in the core city properties but throughout the entire region.
TRANSPORTATION
With their mid and long term expansion plans, the Reno/Tahoe Regional Airport provides an excellent core area destination airport for an Olympic Winter Games. The additional general aviation airports in South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Stead and elsewhere also meet or exceed any expectations in this area. Air travelers can also easily access the Games zone from the western side of the Sierra from the Sacramento International Airport. The Bay Area also provides two widely-used international airports In San Francisco and Oakland.
Flights from those major Bay Area airports into Reno take less than one hour. This only begins to highlight the excellent opportunities For international travel and access. There are numerous one-stop arrival opportunities from anywhere in the world through many other domestic international gateways including Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and most importantly Las Vegas.
There is an excellent east-west rail system, with a terminal in downtown Reno and stations in Truckee and points west that can provide an alternative to automobile or bus traffic from Reno to Truckee and from the Bay Area into the Games mountain venues. The highway network, including I-80, I-395 and other local highways, moves existing traffic well. With planned upgrades over time, it is expected that the existing roadway infrastructure be able to handle all levels of Games period traffic. The area that Games transportation planners will need to devote the most time to will focus on traffic from I-80 down the west side of Lake Tahoe to the south and the roads from Reno to the Nevada side of the lake.
While much of the necessary infrastructure is already above general Olympic games standards, hosting the Winter Games can “fast-track” other planned and/or envisioned projects that might otherwise not receive funding. Clean public transportation upgrades, urban light rail systems and transportation opportunities that could permanently alleviate vehicle traffic in the Lake Tahoe Basin are just some of the possibilities that could become reality.
A significant portion of Games-related transportation will necessitate park-and-rides. The availability of large, well-placed park-and-ride lots is critical to the Games. An examination of likely Games venue entry points has shown that there are sufficient choices for locating such mass transit essentials in key locations.
The coalition recognizes general public concerns that the games would bring increased traffic congestion. Our planning strives to meet and exceed the transportation issues throughout the entire Olympic games cycle and beyond.
VENUES
There are a sufficient number of both outdoor and indoor venues in existence or projected to be constructed in the Reno-Tahoe area to host an excellent Winter Olympic Games. Outdoor venues exceed the needed requirements and offer numerous choices for any number of sports on the Olympic Program. Specific questions regarding the choice of (1) a ski jump location, (2) a biathlon and cross country venue(s), (3) a luge/bobsled/skeleton run, and (4) a downhill race location (requiring a 2800' drop on the course) will be validated for bid purposes after more site-specific research is completed. Considerations will include a review of wind patterns, topography and potential alternate venues.
At this stage of the preparation process, a series of venue choices are under consideration. The ever-changing growth of our region regularly offers new opportunities for possible venues. For instance, the new downtown Reno Triple-A baseball stadium could be a prime location for the medal ceremonies and cultural experiences, including concerts. While a plan of proposed venues is a continuous process, one of the Reno-Tahoe areas greatest strengths is the relative proximity of Games venues in terms of:
- Their proximity to the Games core (Reno)
- Their overall proximity to the access airport (Reno/Tahoe International Airport)
- Their overall proximity to all proposed Village sites
- Their overall proximity to the main and satellite media and broadcast centers
- Their potential for “grouping” or “clustering” to minimize Games administrative and logistics costs
Virtually all of the possible venues, which could be proposed in a variety of combinations, are near enough to others to allow for a variety of plans for “clustering." Significantly, all proposed venues are less than one hour from key Games support elements. This capability will allow for a compact Games without sacrificing the quality of any of the events.
It is always assumed that there will be facility additions during the bid period and during the Games planning and preparation period. Any gaps can be addressed more specifically during the actual bid process when plans for added venues must be presented.
- Their proximity to the Games core (Reno)
- Their overall proximity to the access airport (Reno/Tahoe International Airport)
- Their overall proximity to all proposed Village sites
- Their overall proximity to the main and satellite media and broadcast centers
- Their potential for “grouping” or “clustering” to minimize Games administrative and logistics costs
FUTURE OLYMPIC GAMES
- Winter 2018 - PyeongChang (Republic of Korea) Olympic Winter Games staged from February 9-25
- Winter 2018 - PyeongChang (Republic of Korea) Paralympic Winter Games staged from March 9-18
- Summer 2020 - Tokyo (Japan) Olympic Summer Games staged from July 24 - August 9
- Summer 2020 - Tokyo (Japan) Paralympic Summer Games staged from August 25 - September 6
- Winter 2022 - Beijing (China) Olympic Winter Games staged from February 4 - 20
- Winter 2022 - Beijing (China) Paralympic Winter Games dates to be determined
- Summer 2024 - Paris, (France) Olympic Summer Games dates to be determined
- Summer 2024 - Paris, (France) Paralympic Summer Games dates to be determined
- Summer 2028 - Los Angeles (United States) Olympic Summer Games dates to be determined
- Summer 2028 - Los Angeles (United States) Paralympic Summer Games dates to be determined