Swiss 2026 Olympic Bids Face Substantial Opposition

(ATR) While the potential Swiss Olympic 2026 bid in Sion officially launched last week, its rival in Graubünden will falter due to lack of government support according to Swiss journalist Carl Schönenberger.

"The Graubünden bid will be very difficult because the government of Zurich said they will not participate with an Olympic bid together with Graubünden," Schönenberger tells Around the Rings about a decision he said was taken by government officials last week.

"Half a year ago, Graubünden said it is only possible to make the bid with Zurich, which would have ice hockey and figure skating," said Schönenberger, a journalist with the Swiss daily newspaper Blick. "Now Zurich will not participate and I think that changes a lot for Graubünden."

The official names of the two competing Swiss bids vying to be chosen by a Swiss Olympic Taskforce are "Graubünden und Partner 2026" (Eastern Switzerland centered in the Canton of Graubünden) and "Sion 2026, The Games in The Heart of Switzerland" (Western Switzerland centered in the Canton of Valais).

The Sion bid also faces significant opposition. Christophe Clivaz, a politician from Valais and professor of tourism at the University of Lausanne, denounces what he deems an expensive bid based on an outdated model of tourism development.

"I am absolutely against this Olympic candidacy – as a local councilor in Sion, I am worried about the future finances of my city," Clivaz told the Swiss website swissinfo.ch. "Studies show that between 1960 and 2012, the average budget overrun for Winter Olympic Games from the initial estimate is 179 percent.

"If we have to organize the Games, even de-centralized, it would mean that a large part of our resources – financial and human – would be devoted to this project for several years," Clivaz added.

There is a public referendum for the Graubünden bid scheduled on Feb. 12. As for the western Swiss bid, there is no referendum scheduled.

"They will need two public votes – one that says it will support the candidature and after that the second vote is that the public knows all about the bid and they accept it to go forward to the IOC," Schönenberger said of the Graubünden bid.

"It’s a quite a difficult situation for Graubünden," he said. "Not everyone supports the candidature."

In 2013, voters in canton Graubünden decided against a bid for the 2022 Winter Games at the ballot box with 53 percent against.

"It will be the same situation this time because not a lot has changed since the last bid," Schönenberger said. "There are the big places like Davos, Laax and St. Moritz who support the bid because for them with all the hotels the infrastructure is important, but there are smaller parts of the canton that are afraid to pay and not profit."

Switzerland hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1928 and 1948, both times in St. Moritz. St. Moritz, which will host the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in two weeks, would likely host Alpine skiing and bobsleigh/luge should the Graubünden bid survive.

Prior to the failed bid in 2013, Switzerland has submitted numerous unsuccessful bids, with Sion losing out three times: 1976, 2002 and 2006.

Problems Await Sion Bid

Schönenberger tells ATR that the latest Sion bid will encounter problems. He says that the bid’s biggest advocate, Christian Constantin, a Valais property developer and president of the FC Sion football club, is misguided.

"He is a crazy man like Joseph Blatter and Gianni Infantino, but he is very powerful and he has a lot of fantasy about what it takes to host an Olympic Games," Schönenberger said, comparing Constantin to the football executives, all of whom are from the canton of Valais.

"He said that we have the 2020 Winter Youth Games and that proves we are able to make Olympic Games, so he underestimates completely the difference.

"You would have competitions in St. Moritz with the bobsleigh and competitions in Bern or Fribourg and that is far away, so it would be another problem.

"The biggest problem for the canton of Valais is the infrastructure for the accommodations," Schönenberger added.

An evaluation meeting between the Switzerland 2026 Taskforce and the two bids is supposed to take place between late January and early February. An evaluation of the projects is planned to be finalized and submitted to the Swiss Olympic executive council, which will convene on March 7th to proceed with the final appointment of a project.

This decision will still have to be ratified by the Sport Parliament at an extraordinary meeting scheduled for April 11.

Schönenberger surmises that the chances of a viable Swiss bid being submitted to the IOC is just 50-50.

Formal 2026 bidding applications are not due with the IOC until after the 2024 host city is chosen in September. The final IOC decision will be made in 2019.

Written by Brian Pinelli

For general comments or questions,click here.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.