Deseret News Archives - June 11, 1995
Most Utahns are ready to give up trying for an Olympics if Salt Lake City loses its bid for the 2002 Winter Games this week, a new Deseret News/KSL poll shows.
But the majority also believe it's likely that the city's fifth bid to host an Olympics will be successful, even more than favor Salt Lake City hosting the Winter Games, according to the poll.
The International Olympic Committee is meeting in Budapest, Hungary, this week to select the site of the 2002 Winter Games. The winning city will be announced Friday.
Salt Lake City is competing for the Olympics against Ostersund, Sweden; Quebec, Canada; and Sion, Switzerland. More than 350 Utahns, including Gov. Mike Leavitt, are traveling to Budapest to support the bid.
Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee officials said earlier this year that this will be the last bid, citing the strain put on community resources by raising $14 million for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games campaigns.
Utahns agree it's time to stop. Told that Utah Olympic officials don't plan to bid again, only 32 percent of those polled said they favored trying for the 2006 Winter Games, while 63 percent were opposed. But 67 percent said they think Salt Lake City will be chosen by the IOC to host the 2002 Winter Games. Nineteen percent are convinced the city will win, while 48 percent believe it probably will.
Support for the bid has dropped slightly since the most recent poll, taken a month ago. Then, 63 percent of Utahns surveyed said they favored Salt Lake City hosting the Olympics.The latest poll shows support for the bid at 60 percent. Opposition has held steady at 32 percent, while the percentage of respondents who aren't sure rose from 5 percent to 9 percent since May.
The poll also found that a slim majority of Utahns remain unconvinced that the Olympics can be staged as promised without using tax dollars. Fifty-three percent say they're not optimistic the Olympics can be held without asking taxpayers for money.
The bid committee has proposed an $800 million budget for the Winter Games, paid for with revenues from the sale of broadcast rights, corporate sponsorships, tickets and souvenirs, including Olympic coins.
