A 2026 Winter Olympics bid by Graz is "absolutely feasible" according to a study released on Thursday.
The budget to organize the Winter Games is put at €1.137 billion ($1.317 billion) and would require no public money. However, a public subsidy of €53 million ($61.4 million) could be used in a worst case scenario to cover cost overruns that exhaust a reserve of €100 million ($115.8 million).
The study considered the subsidy "reasonable", given the estimated additional tax revenue of €665 million that would be raised by Graz and its partner regions hosting in 2026.
However, the federal Austrian government would also use public funds to pay for the cost of security but that is considered separate from the operations cost of the Games.
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Encouraging Words for Barcelona Winter Bid
The Catalan dream to organize a Winter Olympics has taken a step forward.
Two important figures from the IOC, both very familiar with Barcelona, heard more about the plans during a visit this week.
IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs said that this Olympic project "makes a lot of sense and is a good idea" during the meeting at the Museum of the Center for Sports Studies.
Also at the meeting, IOC deputy director Pere Miró, himself a Barcelona native. Miro worked with Samaranch’s father when he was IOC President during the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992.
Miró said it is "possible" that the Pyrenees and Barcelona can host the Winter Olympics as long as it is a project "of country, city, that makes sense and can serve to improve society."
Speaking from Lausanne after returning from the Barcelona meeting, Miró confirmed to Around The Rings that "the project is being studied and that there is a will to dialogue".
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Cricket Fans Want Sport in Olympics
The International Cricket Council’s largest ever survey into the sport reveals that 87 percent of fans would like to see Twenty20 cricket in the Olympics.
ICC leaders have had discussions with the IOC in the past 18 months but plans to get cricket back on the Olympic program for the first time since the 1900 Games in Paris are yet to fully materialize.
The cricket federation aims to use the shortest form of the game, Twenty20, to spearhead its Olympic push. But cricket will not be a good fit for either the Paris 2024 or LA 2028 Games, so federation chiefs are thinking long term.
The findings of the study released Wednesday reveal that cricket has over one billion fans globally. The average age is 34 with 61 percent male fans and 39 percent being women and girls.
The research was undertaken to enable the ICC and its members to understand the growth potential of cricket and help shape its development and strategic direction.
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