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The Winter Olympics in Switzerland in 2030 are becoming increasingly realistic. At least on paper. Swiss Olympic’s feasibility study, now completed, comes to the expected conclusion: Yes, we can do it.
Switzerland wants to be the first country to be a ‘host country’ in the new IOC era of sustainable Games without gigantism. Until now, ‘host cities’ have been common.
The key word: decentralization. Only existing competition locations may be used. This even applies to skating, for which there is no infrastructure in Switzerland. An outsourcing to Heerenveen (Ho), Inzell (De) or Italy for the ice of the 2026 Games is being considered.
Davos and Schaffhausen will not be competition locations
The new study is not yet an official application for the games. But many things seem to be planned quite concretely. Especially the distribution of the competitions across Switzerland (see list in the box). In addition to skating, only the curling tournaments are still open. Schaffhausen, which was initially traded for the 2024 Men’s World Cup, failed due to the feasibility study: the infrastructure was not large enough for the Olympic Games. From now on, curling will take place in one of the hockey halls.
Davos is also left out despite international events such as the Spengler Cup and the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup.
What is new is the decision that Ticino should also be part of the games to take into account all language regions. The cantonal government of Ticino has also officially expressed interest in this. But it is not yet clear which sports can end up in Ticino. The ice hockey halls in Ambri and Lugano are particularly suitable for curling, short track and women’s ice hockey. There is also mogul skiing and/or aerials up for discussion.
In Bern, on the other hand, the games open and the capital becomes the main media location. But no competitions are planned: the city of Bern supports the Olympic Games in principle, but points out that in its view the schedule is too tight.
The study highlights the differences with the previous failed Olympic projects in Switzerland. In addition to foregoing new construction, also in terms of money. The financial analysis showed that the budget of approximately 1.5 billion francs appears to be largely covered without public funds. The exception is in the area of security, for example when the police work for the Olympic Games.
The public sector should primarily finance the Paralympic Games
The IOC contributes the largest share of the budget with a tranche of 710 million. Additional sources of income are Swiss sponsors (approx. 250 million), ticket sales including VIP packages with approximately 319 million. However, public funds of approximately 100 million are planned for the Paralympic Games. For comparison: Sion 2026 would have had a budget of at least 2 billion, up to 994 million would come from the state.
A representative survey in September showed that this new form of Olympic Games in Switzerland appears to be popular with the population: 67 percent expressed themselves positively. Nevertheless, referendums are cited as a threat to the Olympic dream. However, the study assesses the risk of a referendum as low due to decentralization and financing without exorbitant public money.
What is the next step? On November 24, the representatives of the sports associations in the sports parliament must decide whether they want to continue on the Olympic path. Major opposition is not expected.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
