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New York could host the Winter Olympics again, but that doesn't mean you should start practicing your luge runs just yet.
This week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the creation of an exploratory committee to study whether New York State should pursue a future Winter Olympics bid jointly hosted by Lake Placid and New York City. The committee will spend roughly a year evaluating the feasibility of a bid, putting this firmly in the "Wouldn't it be cool if?" preliminary stage.
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The proposed model would mirror the geographically split format used by this year's Winter Games in Italy, where events were staged across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Under a New York bid, Lake Placid would likely host alpine skiing, bobsled, skeleton and other mountain sports, while New York City could stage indoor events such as hockey, figure skating and short-track speed skating, potentially using existing venues like Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and UBS Arena. Opening and closing ceremonies could also land in the city.
So what are the chances of this actually happening? Surprisingly not terrible!
Lake Placid has already hosted the Winter Olympics twice, in 1932 and 1980, giving it instant credibility with the International Olympic Committee. The region has also benefited from roughly $750 million in state-funded upgrades to its Olympic infrastructure in recent years, so many of the necessary venues already exist. Reusing existing facilities has become increasingly important to the IOC as it attempts to curb the ballooning costs that have scared off many potential host cities.
Climate change could also work in New York's favor (rare to hear that as a positive, but here we are). Studies suggest Lake Placid is among the few former Winter Olympic hosts likely to maintain reliable winter conditions through mid-century, a factor the IOC now weighs heavily when considering bids.
The biggest obstacle may be timing. Salt Lake City is set to host in 2034, while Switzerland is currently the preferred candidate for 2038. That means the earliest realistic opening for a New York bid would be 2042. Even then, New York would need the backing of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee before competing against other international candidates, including bids from countries such as Norway or Canada.
In other words: The dream is alive, but New Yorkers shouldn't count on an Olympic torch heading through Times Square any decade soon.