Former VANOC CEO believes Vancouver should bid for Olympics in 2030

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The man who brought the Winter Olympics to Vancouver in 2010 believes the city should make a bid to host the Games again in 2030.

John Furlong made the pitch to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Thursday, saying the timing is right.

But, not everyone is so sure it’ll work.

“We had John in the studio and asked him about that, ‘Could we come back?'” Perry Solkowski with Sportsnet 650 explained after Furlong’s speech. “And he says, there has to be a real want and a real need, and it’ll be interesting to see. I think people forget, we had a referendum on whether we wanted these Games here in 2010, and I think the climate was very different.”

Perry added response from listeners wasn’t all positive, either.

“We had a few people texting, ‘Man, you know what the Games did? Look at our real estate prices.’ It’s pushed some people away from this,” he said.

https://twitter.com/BT_Vancouver/status/1230525648004882435

He believes part of the reason behind Furlong’s pitch is that fewer and fewer cities seem ready to take on the risk of hosting the Olympics because they come with a multi-billion dollar price tag.

“Could we? Yes, because you don’t have to do much as far as the infrastructure, and that’s where an awful lot of the cost is,” Perry added. “So, I think from the IOC perspective, as John will say, and most people around the Olympics look at, they look at 2010 as maybe the blueprint. The best ever. Showcases, put it in the middle of the showroom, this is as good as it can ever get. I just don’t know if it’s too far along still for people to say, ‘Ya, let’s do it again.'”

This comes as Vancouver marks 10 years since the Winter Games opened the region up to the world.

Just a few weeks ago, Furlong told CityNews Vancouver that Canada would host the Games again, but didn’t say which city.

Furlong on Thursday did admit there are a number of issues the city would need to address if it were to put forward another bid, like the homelessness, housing costs, and transportation infrastructure.

-With files from Breakfast Television Vancouver

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today