(ATR) The Swiss Federal Council has delayed its decision on supporting the Sion 2026 bid.
Sion 2026 President Jean-Philippe Rochat tells Around the Rings that the delay is not a surprise since the Sion 2026 bid team was told by the federal government that a decision would be taken "at some point" in October.
"We are now expecting a decision during one of the upcoming meetings of the Federal Council in one of the coming weeks," Rochat said. "They just need enough time to discuss such an important matter."
Swiss reports say the Council disagreed on how much it should contribute to the cost of the Games.
The delay by the Council, which is the equivalent of the executive board of the Swiss federal government, is not a cause for concern, according to Rochat.
"We were informed about the discussions and remain very upbeat regarding the future decision of the Federal Council, so there is no growing sense of concern at all."
Rochat told ATR late last month that the bid team was "rather optimistic" of getting federal support but admitted that should the Council vote against the bid, Sion’s dreams of hosting would be dead.
Should the Council sign off on the plan, an exhaustive process that will take until the end of 2018 will begin. Next on the agenda would be a three month consultation period early next year before the Federal Council makes its final decision by May of 2018. In the fall of 2018, the Swiss Parliament becomes involved and a referendum on holding the Games would also be held in the main canton of Valais.
The delay by the Federal Council means that the Swiss decision will now come after this Sunday’s Olympic referendum being held in Innsbruck and the surrounding Tirol region of Austria.
Rochat says the result of the Austrian referendum could be a strong sign for the Swiss bid, given how voters in both areas have similar views on hosting the Olympics.
Written by Gerard Farek
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