No Referendum, No Problem for Graz 2026 Opponents

(ATR) The party behind the opposition to the Graz 2026 Olympic bid tells Around the Rings not having a referendum on the project is a satisfactory outcome to the group’s opposition members.

"There are two sides [to think about with this]," Clemens Fontaine, a member of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ), told ATR. "On the one hand we reached our goal, the Olympic Winter Games won't happen. On the other hand we are confident that the referendum would have gone in our favor, so either way it's fine."

Graz abandoned its Olympic bid earlier this month after the Austrian Olympic Committee said political instability made the project untenable. A release from the ÖOC cited a lack of political backing from the Graz municipal government as well as at the state level.

Waiting in the wings was a referendum on the Olympic project, forced by the Communists who gathered the required 10,000 signatures on the effort. The referendum was backed by both Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl and Styria State Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer and was scheduled to be held in August or September.

Abandoning the bid meant abandoning the referendum, the second such instance in the last two years. Last year, Budapest withdrew from the 2024 bid race after opposition groups triggered a referendum. There, activists lamented that a rare chance for citizens to express themselves was shuttered.

Fontaine said that in the weeks after Graz withdrew its candidacy the KPÖ has received "overwhelming positive feedback" for its efforts.

"The inhabitants of Graz came to us and said thank you for collecting the signatures and thanks for sticking up for us," Fontaine added.

Fontaine said that politicians invested in hosting the Olympics just did not see "how much pressure there was" among citizens to have a public conversation about the Games. Once it was apparent, the bid quickly derailed.

"It is hard work to collect so many signatures but it paid off ultimately," Fontaine said. "We are a small party in Graz and everyone had to pull their weight."

The KPÖ said it does not oppose the idea of the Olympics, but that two major reasons the party opposed a Graz bid were the hidden rising costs that cities take on to host the Olympics, and the worry that the Games would cause housing prices in the city to skyrocket for the long term. While the IOC has made a concerted effort to control costs as part of its "New Norm" program, there has not been a city that has bid and hosted the Games start to finish under it.

Graz said in a feasibility study that no regional public money would be used for Games infrastructure, but the national government would pay for Games security. A government contingency fund of €53 million ($61.4 million) would have been used to help cover any cost overruns for the 2026 budget.

"When you look at past Olympic Games the cost always exploded; beforehand there were numbers given to the public, and they just didn't hold," Fontaine said. "There were a few [cities that hosted the Olympics] where housing prices rose and everything became more expensive starting with the Olympic Games. These increases they weren't negated afterwards so they stayed and it was really hard for the local inhabitants to make a living there."

Graz's departure means that there are only five countries still in the bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Of the interested cities left, Calgary will hold a plebiscite, likely in November. Italy is still determining which bid city it will put forth to the IOC and will choose a candidate from three options by September.

Stockholm's bid is contingent on political support at the national level. The country will hold elections this September. Sapporo is still deciding if it wants to bid for the 2026 Olympics or wait for the 2030 bid cycle. Erzurum, Turkey is the only bid going forward without any caveats related to public or governmental support.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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