Stockholm 2026 Bid Defends Use of Consultants

(ATR) The Swedish bid says it’s the "most cost-efficient Olympic bid" ever, despite having triple the number of consultants compared to its Italian rival.

Stockholm-Åre 2026 has 25 consultants registered with the IOC to work for its Olympic campaign. Milan-Cortina has just eight on its books.

At the same time last year – before the 2026 race narrowed to two candidates – Stockholm had six consultants signed up; there were no advisors registered for the Italian bid.

Stockholm 2026 has defended its use of consultants in comments to Around the Rings. It’s backed by the IOC, although president Thomas Bach has repeatedly said he wanted to limit their role to slash costs in Olympic bidding contests.

Richard Brisius, CEO of the bid, insists the bidding company is not paying out exorbitant consultancy fees to keep Stockholm 2026 on track to secure the Winter Games.

"There is only a couple of us working full time or close to full time like myself, the rest of those that are on the registered list are, or have been, engaged part time or have contributed part time," he told ATR, adding that it might just be for a few hours or couple of days on a specialist project. Some are engaged for longer assignments.

"We work on a consultancy basis with all to be able to adjust staff and office costs in a cost-effective manner when there are less labour-intensive periods," he said.

Brisius, communications director Rikard Bjork and press officer Mats Olsson are among the consultants registered, the most high-profile of which is Olympic bid veteran Terrence Burns from U.S. agency The Engine Shop.

Brisius said many of those registered have done their job some time ago and are not currently contributing to the bid.

He said most of Stockholm’s hired consultants were on a day rate or similar fixed arrangement "and everyone have done their utmost to fit into this new reality of cost-efficient bidding in accordance with Agenda 2020".

"All do this first and foremost because of the belief in Stockholm Åre 2026 and what it could bring to Sweden and the future of the Olympic Movement," he added.

By comparison, the Milan-Cortina bid has seven Italian consultants signed up and one U.K. architect.

Commenting on the low number of advisors helping the Italian bid, a spokesman told ATR that "we manage the bid in house. We don’t need a lot of consultants".

IOC: "Increased Transparency" in Bidding

At this time last year, the Calgary 2026 bid had 17 consultants on board. This figure ballooned to 46 before the collapse of the Canadian campaign last November. Those names are still listed on the IOC’s database of Olympic bid consultants. Calgary was knocked out of the contest after the public voted resoundingly against the city’s Olympic quest.

Under 2026 bidding rules, consultants and lobbyists were required to sign up showing their commitment to comply with the IOC’s code of ethics and rules of bidding conduct.

The aim was to make the role of consultants more transparent in Olympic bidding, while increasing the IOC’s vigilance of those attempting to gain advantage by breaching ethics rules.

In a statement to Around the Rings, the IOC suggested the Swedish and Italian bids had cut costs as a result of greater collaboration with its Olympic Games department through the phases of the bidding procedure, reducing the need for expensive consultants.

It declined to say if any 2026 Olympic bid had breached any rules regarding the use of consultants, stressing that use of the consultants register had added a layer of transparency to the bidding race.

"Both Stockholm-Åre and Milan-Cortina have fully benefited from the greater support, technical advice, assistance and materials provided by the IOC, which as you know, have led to substantially reduced candidature budgets – over 75 percent in the average projected budgets of the two candidates compared to the average budgets of the candidate cities for 2018 and 2022," an IOC spokesperson told ATR.

"We are very pleased that both Olympic Winter Games 2026 candidatures have positively adopted and adhered to the increased transparency and ethics procedures introduced, including the consultants register."

"The consultants register captures consultants working on a candidature, even if for a brief period of time and very specific tasks."

Both Stockholm-Åre and Milan-Cortina will make presentations to the AIOWF general assembly at SportAccord next week.

The IOC host city vote takes place at the session in Lausanne on June 24.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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