The date may have gone unnoticed, hidden by another countdown. But the two bids selected by the IOC Executive Board for the Winter Games – the French Alps for 2030, Salt Lake City for 2034 – now have less than a month to wait before the big day. They will be officially designated host regions and cities on July 24 by the session of the Olympic body. The suspense is long gone.

For the French project, the political situation since the European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly complicates the work of the candidacy team. One piece is still missing from the file: state guarantees. It is not excluded that it is still missing when opening the session. But the IOC will be able to deal with it, and find a formula to explain it. With less than six years until the 2030 Winter Games, any idea of ​​a plan B is no longer relevant in Lausanne, guarantees or not.

For Salt Lake City, the terrain looks clearer. The file ticks all the boxes. The publication by the IOC of the report of the commission of the future host on the candidacy of the capital of Utah illustrates this: the Americans have the full confidence of the IOC.

Very technical, the document willingly highlights the many advantages of a project which seems to have been prepared without taking one's eyes off the recommendations of the IOC Agenda 2020+5. Lausanne notes that the model proposed by Salt Lake City 2024 is based, like that of Los Angeles 2028, on exclusively private financing (excluding expenses linked to Games security).

The report also notes that Utah has never relaxed its sports efforts since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Its sports commission has “supported more than 1.100 events, including 175 high-level competitions, World Cups or championships."

The commission chaired by the Austrian Karl Stoss points out that the Winter Games in 2034 “ would help meet the needs of a city and region that has experienced enormous societal changes. » With an average age of 31, Utah is the state with the youngest population in the country.

Above all, the IOC is pleased to see that the Winter Games in 2034 will be the first to be organized entirely in existing or temporary sites, all within an hour of the Olympic Village. Ten of the 13 competition venues proposed in the master plan were used for the Games in 2002. The upgrades needed for some competition equipment are modest. It would cost just $33 million to upgrade sliding track, ski jumps, speed skating oval and Soldier Hollow's nordic center.

All the boxes, then. An almost perfect copy. But beware, the IOC makes no secret of certain reservations. Analyzing the numbers, Karl Stoss and his team frowned. The budget, above all, leaves them skeptical.

With a little less than ten years to go, Salt Lake City announces the figure of $1,8 billion in national partnership revenue. Almost double the objective stated – and apparently exceeded – by Paris 2024. For the Winter Games, Salt Lake City is thinking big, even very big. The future host commission believes that Utah's ambition is very optimistic, probably too much, even taking into account inflation and a very buoyant American market in the field of sport.

Same doubt about ticketing. Salt Lake City projects revenue of $1,19 billion from ticket sales and hospitality. The IOC doesn't really believe in it.

Expenses ? Karl Stoss also grimaces a little. The IOC writes in black and white that the transport and technology budgets have undoubtedly been underestimated.

Finally, the Austrian almost fell off his chair when he discovered the forecast posted by the Salt Lake City 2034 team for hotel room prices during the period of the Winter Games in 2034. It will cost $313 for a room in a 2-star establishment, $439 for one more star, and $762 in a 4-star. Not given.