REPORT OF THE IOC EVALUATION COMMISSION
FOR THE
XIX OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY

The candidature enjoys the full support of the State of Utah and the City 
of Salt Lake.  Strong backing is provided by the IOC members in the United 
States and the NOC.  There is great public awareness and enthusiasm for the 
bid, as well as good public support demonstrated by a 1989 referendum and by 
25 surveys carried out in recent years all of which show a majority of the 
population being in favor of the bid. No further referendum is anticipated 
should Salt Lake City be awarded the Olympic Winter Games. The highly 
professional bid committee is supported by the business community and already 
by many volunteers.

The concept of the Games is to hold all indoor competitions except women's 
hockey and curling within the City. The snow competitions and bobsleigh and 
luge events be held in venues in the vicinity of the City within areas already 
developed for Olympic competition.

There will be a single Olympic Village in the City. With the relatively short 
traveling distances for the athletes and the high level of the many existing 
facilities, coupled with the plans for the few venues still to be constructed, 
the overall sports concept is an excellent one.

All alpine skiing courses, with the exception of the downhill, already exist. 
They are homologated and, with the exception of Super G, regularly used for 
World Cup races. Downhill courses are being developed in an already existing 
ski area. The profile of the courses, access and facilities for athletes, 
spectators and the media, provide excellent conditions for Olympic competitions
with very favorable winter weather.

The bobsleigh and luge track is already under construction and will be ready 
for use at the end of 1995.

The plans for the cross-country tracks appear to offer very good conditions for
the athletes. Continued dialogue is required however from an environmental 
point of view.

The Delta Center, an excellent facility for the ice hockey and figure skating 
competitions, will require some modifications which would reduce current 
spectator capacity. Negotiations to clarify that the Delta Center will be free 
of any advertising are on-going.

The bid committee looks at environmental protection as a positive challenge. 
Governmental agencies and national goveming bodies are pro-active in enhancing 
environmental policies. The bid committee has issued a document entitled "The 
Environment" which details the overall environmental strategy. It provides 
significant information on transport, the Olympic Village, procurement of 
goods and services and other areas of environmental protection. The main 
environmental debates over land use changes were resolved prior to this bid. 
The Olympic venues are situated within areas dedicated to sports facilities.

The single Olympic Village would be situated on the campus of the University of
Utah. The University has guaranteed in writing that the existing accommodations
will be upgraded and increased with the new constructions to conform to a 
standard which meets the requirements of the IOC Olympic Village Guidelines. 
Part of these improvements are included in the existing long-range development 
plans of the University. There is already a great variety of sports and 
recreational facilities on the campus. The difference in altitude between the 
Olympic Village and the cross-country venues of approximately 400m, may lead 
some of the athletes to decide not to stay in the Olympic Village.

A good educational plan for the promotion of Olympism within local schools and 
colleges has been created and is already operational.

Plans for Olympic accommodation are based on existing facilities. With the 
additional hotel, convention and meeting facilities in the centre of the City 
already under construction, the overall provisions for housing all members of 
the Olympic Family, spectators and sponsors are excellent.

The bid committee has taken good steps to enter into hotel agreements to help 
ensure that accommodation prices will meet IOC requirements.

Air access to Salt Lake City is via the City's international airport situated 
approximately 15 minutes from the City centre and currently serves over 500 
flights per day. In addition, the road network with mostly six-lane highways 
allowing for dedicated  Olympic accredited lanes, is impressive. With the 
planned construction of a new highway to the alpine area at Snowbasin, 
driving time could be reduced to approximately 40 minutes.

The existing telecommunications and information technology infrastructures and 
high  level of technological expertise reflect the great experience of the 
area in this field, underlined by the fact that 2,500 km of fiber optic lines 
already exist facilitating links to all Olympic sites.

The plans for the media constitute a strong aspect of the candidature with the 
IBC and MPC being housed under one roof in a partly existing; facility in the 
heart of the city. The media representatives would be accommodated in hotels 
within walking distance of the IBC/MPC and also have access to the Games' 
communication and results system from their rooms.

The Commission was provided with a letter from the bid committee guaranteeing 
very favorable space rental rates with a charge of US $ 1.07 per square metre 
per day.

Olympic marks and designations are well protected in the United States. The
necessary marketing agreements would have to be negotiated.

The American legal system requires special legislation for the suspension of 
customs duties required by the IOC. Such legislation is not yet in existence 
for the possibility of Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, but 
precedents exist for the resolution of this issue for past Olympic Games held 
in the United States.

All the other guarantees provided by the bid committee are very detailed and 
of a very high quality.

The bid committee delivered to the Commission an agreement signed between the
State of Utah and the City whereby the State of Utah agrees to stand in for 
the City in the event that the latter fails to perform under the Host City 
Contract.

The bid committee also submitted to the Commission details of Salt Lake City's 
capital investment program. The Utah Sports Authority, which was created 
following the 1989 referendum providing for a special sales tax increment of 
1/8 of 1%, will be repaid US $ 99 m for the ski jump, the Bobsleigh and Luge 
track, the speed skating oval and the women's ice hockey stadium in Ogden. 
A US $ 40 m Foundation will maintain and operate these venues after the Games.

Bearing in mind the great possibilities of the US market, the overall revenues 
of US $ 797.8 million appear to be on the conservative side.

The Commission considers the financial plan to be an excellent one.

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