Another nation’s population has voted down a potential Olympic hosting bid, this time Switzerland’s bid for the the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Hosting an Olympic Games has lost its luster of late, at least with local voters, who have voted down Olympic bids across the world over the past few years. The 2024 Summer Olympics were most notable, with Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest all dropping out due to local opposition, leaving only Los Angeles and Paris as potential host cities. The IOC elected to send the 2024 Games to Paris and the 2028 edition to L.A., locking down hosts for the next decade as the hosting options rapidly dried up.
Now NBC reports that the Swiss region of Valais has voted down a potential 2026 Winter Olympic hosting bid, with about 54% of voters refusing to pledge financial support for the bid. City officials say there is no “Plan B”, and that the Swiss Olympic bid is now officially over.
The IOC (International Olympic Committee) has reformed its bidding process in an attempt to lure more potential host cities. But the IOC said in the NBC story that “outdated information on the cost of the Games” still caused people to vote down the bid in Switzerland. There are six hosts still in the bidding process for the 2026 Olympics: Italy (Turin and Milan), Austria (Gratz), Sweden (Stockholm), Turkey (Erzurum), Canada (Calgary) and Japan (Sapporo).
The IOC needs to review the cost of the Olympics. The current strategy is very expensive and many countries and cities theres not conditions to host.