The $76 million dollar endowment from the last Olympic Games enabled venues to operate at world-class levels. “The success [of the venues] has been greater than we ever dreamed,” Fraser exclaims. “Those funds are running out. We need to reendow at a higher level to hopefully permanently endow sport in Utah for our communities and our children.”
Fraser and the rest of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games are involved in an ongoing bidding and communication process with the IOC. Their goal is to present Salt Lake City as a potential 2030 or 2034 Olympic destination. Already, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) cast their vote favoring Salt Lake City.
“We continually talk about Utah as being one of the best destinations in the world for the games because we have all the infrastructure in place. We have an experienced team that’s done it before. We have a welcoming community that’s thrilled to have the games again,” he says.
Fraser hopes to see the culmination of the committee’s hard work when the IOC announces the 2030 host city in May 2023. If Utah doesn’t win the bid for the 2030 games, he will continue working for 2034.
For Fraser, hosting the games again is an opportunity to celebrate diversity and diminish cultural, religious, and linguistic barriers. “At the end of the day, what the Olympics mean is bring- ing people from around the world together to celebrate human achievement through sports,” he states. “It’s ultimately the countries coming together that makes the Olympics so meaningful.”