Bids

The light turns green for Switzerland 2038

— Published September 30, 2024

The light is green. The road is wide open. At the end of last week, the Federal Council removed the last obstacle to a "final olympic bid» of Switzerland for the Winter Games in 2038. It decided to give it a formal support, based on the concept of sustainable, decentralized and privately financed Games. 

Switzerland can therefore dream again of the Winter Games, almost a century after having organized them for the last time in Saint-Moritz (1928 and 1948). It can believe in it without too much risk of seeing its project disappear in smoke.

Flashback. In November 2023, the IOC Executive Board, meeting in Paris for its last meeting of the year, validates the recommendations of its Future Host Commission for the Winter Games. It awards the 2030 editions to the French Alps and 2034 to Salt Lake City. It rejects Sweden. And, not without surprise, decides to place Switzerland in a new position: it invites it to continue the adventure for the 2038 Winter Games in the so-called " Dialogue privileged”.

The concept is unprecedented. It does not formally place Switzerland in a position to host the Olympic and Paralympic event in 2038, but gives it a comfortable three-year period, until the end of 2027, to review its project and add the missing pieces. The IOC is asking the Swiss to tighten up their site map, in particular by reducing the number of athletes' villages, and to obtain formal guarantees from the authorities.

For the first of these two requirements, we will have to wait a little longer. The Switzerland 2038 project will be refined. But the work will take time. For the other request, support from public authorities, the box is now checked. The green light given last Friday by the Federal Council, relayed by Swiss Olympic, meets the expectations of the IOC.

Ironically, the formal support from the Swiss authorities has arrived while the French state guarantee signed by the new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, is still awaited. It is supposed to be sent to Lausanne by Tuesday, October 1st at the latest. In November 2023, the IOC Executive Board had nevertheless insisted, when justifying its triple decision, on the unwavering political support behind the French Alps project and, conversely, on its absence from the candidacy file for the "Swiss Games".

Comment from Sports Minister Viola Amherd: “ I am looking forward to hosting the Games in 2038 in Switzerland. Organising such an event will have a positive impact on society and the economy. Today is the first step on the road to a bid."

What's next? It already seems perfectly marked out for the Switzerland 2038 project. The national Olympic committee, Swiss Olympic, explains that the Federal Council " provides the necessary specialist staff to the corresponding working groups of the “Swiss Winter Olympics and Paralympics 2038” association".

The association in question already has two presidents: Ruth Wipfli Steinegger, vice-president of Swiss Olympic, and former downhill skier Urs Lehmann, current president of the Swiss Ski Federation (Swiss-Ski).

Several working groups will now be formed over the coming months to work on the chapters of the file that need to be strengthened or finalized, including financing, mobility, security, infrastructure, sites and legacy. At the top of the pile is the importance of increasing partnerships to stick as closely as possible to the promise of privately funded Winter Games.

The risk of a referendum? In Switzerland, it is never excluded. And it is always very threatening, the "votations" having already sent back to the bottom a long list of Olympic candidacies.

But Swiss Olympic reminds that the Olympic federations have already unanimously expressed their support for the project, as early as last May, as have the cantons, a month later. They have even formally confirmed their desire to " continue the collaboration ».