Lake Placid readies for a potential return to the Olympic spotlight

More than 40 years after playing host to the 1980 Winter Olympics, the small town of Lake Placid, N.Y. is starting to feel the pull of the Olympics yet again.

On Wednesday the State Assembly approved a measure to create a commission focused on Lake Placid hosting the Winter Olympics. It’s just the first step, with thousands more to follow, but the time is right said Assemblyman Billy Jones.

“The Lake Placid region is ready to start the conversation on hosting the Winter Olympics again,” he said. “Hosting the Games would be great for our regional economy and would introduce a new generation to the iconic facilities.”

Lake Placid will serve as host to the 2023 World University Games, and the state has already spent millions of dollars to upgrade their facilities ahead of those Games. Jones also pointed out the World University Games has 84 events in 12 sports, while the 1980 Winter Olympics had 38 events in six sports. The recently completed Beijing 2022 Games had 109 events in seven sports.

Lake Placid was the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games, and there has been some talk about the city co-hosting the Games with Montreal which is about 110 miles north of Lake Placid.

Lawmakers did not target which year Lake Placid is looking to host the world for the Winter Games.