Utah Olympic organizers reveal $300M fundraising goal as 2034 planning is launched

PARK CITY, Utah – Utah’s effort to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games back to Salt Lake City took a major step forward this week as organizers held the first meetings of the 2034 Games’ Board and Steering Committee. The gatherings, held Monday in Salt Lake City, brought together key stakeholders and volunteers who expressed eagerness to begin the work of planning the global event.

Following the meetings, 2034 Communications Director Tom Kelley led a press briefing alongside Board President and Executive Chair Fraser Bullock and Vice Chair Steve Starks.

They explained how the 37-member, all-volunteer 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Steering Committee has started the first phase of fundraising, aiming for a goal of $300 million, raised through large, private contributions. That figure is double the initial estimate discussed when meetings started months ago. 

Kelley explained the initial amount, roughly $163M, was set a few years ago and the higher goal was set because organizers think it is possible. He added they were already well on their way toward that goal.

“We’re in really good shape on that right now and it’s a goal we really felt it was something we could achieve,” Kelley said. 

Steve Miller was announced as chair of the Fundraising Committee. The meeting was held at one of Larry H. Miller’s offices, and Bullock stated that the 2034 administration had received donated office space in downtown Salt Lake City.

According to Kelley, planning has officially entered what organizers call the “transition phase”—the first step in a nearly decade-long lifecycle to plan, stage, and close out the event. This phase includes foundational work such as establishing the Olympic Organizing Committee, launching community engagement, and starting a statewide listening tour. Kelley said the transition phase will last until the end of 2027, with heavier planning not kicking in for several more years.

“This phase is essentially getting the organizing committee foundation established, starting community engagement, doing this listening tour over the next months,” Kelley said.

 

From there, the strategy phase begins in 2029, followed by detailed planning in 2030 and 2031, the readiness phase in 2032 and 2033, and then the execution of the Games in 2034. The committee will then wind down its work and focus on legacy efforts after the Games conclude.

Kelley emphasized that despite the enthusiasm from community members wanting to get involved, the full-scale operational phase is still years away.

“Good governance” committees are taking shape, Bullock said. Host Communities, Sport and Venues, Outreach, and State of Sport, to name a few.

The Listening Tour, which will start next week in Ogden, will then proceed to the Wasatch Back with the intention of “building bridges of communication,” as Bullock put it, with Venue Communities.

Bullock said currently about $40M was allocated for upgrades to current venues, including the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City.

“Among the $39.6 million allocated for existing venue modernization of construction for competition readiness, much will go to Park City’s Utah Olympic Park Sliding Track specifically for ice-protecting sun shades and the Luge Start House area,” Bullock said. 

Earlier in the afternoon Ted Ligety, a 2034 Committee member, told the audience the statistic that he was the first athlete born and raised in Park City to win an Olympic medal in 2006. Each Olympics or Paralympics since then has had at least one athlete born and raised in Utah win a medal at the Winter Games.

A reporter brought up a brief discussion regarding whether the current American political climate was having any effect, positive, negative, or otherwise, on the planning of the Utah Games, to which there was a quick response of “no.”

Wrapping up the monthly meeting, Bullock said that they are all looking forward very much to witnessing and learning from the 2026 Winter Milano-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, as every successful Games leading up to ours helps the Olympic Movement that much more.