Sion bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics

Sion 2026 was a proposed bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics by the city of Sion and the Swiss Olympic Association. Sion has never previously hosted the Olympics but bid for the Olympics in 1976, 2002 and 2006. The 2026 bid was withdrawn after a local referendum in which 54% of voters rejected it.[2]

Bids for the
2026 (2026) Winter Olympics
Overview
XXV Olympic Winter Games
Winner: Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo
Runner-up: Stockholm–Åre
Details
City Sion, Switzerland
ChairFrédéric Favre[1]
NOCSwiss Olympic Association (COC)
Previous Games hosted
Never hosted Games but has bid three times previously
Decision
ResultWithdrew bid

History

At first, five Swiss bids were submitted to the Swiss Olympic Association:'Sion 2026: Swiss Made Winter Games', 'Graubünden and partners 2026', 'Central Switzerland 2026', '2026 - Games for our future' and 'Switzerland 2026'.[3]

In October 2017, the Swiss government announced its support for the Sion 2026 bid.[4] The next month, a public vote was scheduled for the 10 June the next year. The bid's preliminary feasibility report predicted that bringing the Olympics to Sion would cost CHF1.86bn and produce direct revenue of CHF1.35bn.[5] The canton of Valais pledged CHF60m and the Swiss government promised to give the bid CHF995m.[5] The Games budget was later reported to actually be CHF2.4bn by radio station RTS.[6]

In April 2018, the Swiss Olympic Association confirmed Sion as an 'interested party' in the 2026 Games.[7]

In May 2018 it was announced that the Host City Contract would be signed jointly the canton of Valais and the city of Sion.[8]

Public vote

The plebiscite held on 10 June 2018 had 216,548 eligible voters and saw a turnout of 62.6%.[9] 71,579 people (or 53.98% of the vote) rejected the bid and 61,019 (or 46.02% of the vote) accepted it.[10] 1,049 ballots were left blank and 1,912 were invalidated.[9]

Overall, the cities voted more strongly against the bid while the mountain provinces were more accepting. All of the cities in the canton voted to reject the bid with a majority of 55% or more except Visp which had a smaller 'no' vote, at 51%.[9]

Philippe Varone, the mayor of Sion said that there was "no plan B" after the rejection of the bid at the public vote.[11] The Sion 2026 bid was formally ended during the Dialogue Stage of the IOC selection process, leaving six other bids still in the running: Milan, Italy; Graz, Austria; Stockholm, Sweden; Erzurum, Turkey; Sapporo, Japan and Calgary, Canada.[12][13] Of these, three cancelled their bids in the Dialogue Stage and the Turkish bid was not invited to join the Candidature Stage, leaving the Italian and Swedish bids as the only willing hosts.[14][15][16][17]

Previous bids

The last time Switzerland held an Olympic Games was the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz.[18] Sion has never previously hosted the Olympics but bid for the Olympics in 1976, 2002 and 2006.[19][20]

See also

References
  1. Palmer, Dan (19 June 2017). "Political committee formed to back Sion 2026 bid". Inside the Games. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  2. "Voters throw out latest Swiss bid to host Winter Olympics". Swiss Info. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  3. "Five Swiss bids in sprint for 2026 Olympics". Swiss Info. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  4. "Swiss gov't says it backs city of Sion's 2026 Winter Olympic bid". Xinhua Net. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  5. Butler, Nick (8 November 2017). "Swiss canton set to hold referendum on Sion 2026 bid next June". Inside the Games. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  6. "Sion Olympic costs put at more than CHF2 billion". Swiss Info. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  7. "NOCs from seven countries on three continents confirm interest in staging the Olympic Winter Games 2026". Olympic.org. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  8. Livingstone, Robert (8 May 2018). "Agreement Reached For Canton of Valais To Jointly Sign Host City Contract For Sion 2026 Olympics". Games Bids. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  9. "Votation 10 juin Sion 2026: les Valaisans disent «non»". Le Matin (in French). Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  10. "Das Wallis sagt Nein zu «Sion 2026»: Olympia-Kandidatur 2026 gescheitert". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  11. "Switzerland 2026 Olympic bid rejected by public vote". NBC Sports. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  12. "OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES 2026IOC WORKING GROUP REPORT" (PDF). Olympic.org. p. 14. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  13. "Winter Olympics 2026: Sion, Switzerland out of bidding to stage event". BBC. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  14. Ross, Tom (19 November 2018). "Calgary City Council officially cancels 2026 Olympic bid". 660 News. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  15. Morgan, Liam (6 July 2018). "Graz withdraws from 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic bid race". Inside the Games. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  16. Morgan, Liam (13 September 2018). "Sapporo set to withdraw bid for 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games". Inside the Games. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  17. Morgan, Liam (4 October 2018). "Erzurum eliminated from contest for 2026 Winter Olympics as Calgary, Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo and Stockholm put forward to next stage". Inside the Games. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  18. "Swiss canton votes down bid to host 2026 Olympics". The Local. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. "Switzerland: cradle of the Winter Olympics". House of Switzerland. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  20. "PAST OLYMPIC HOST CITY ELECTION RESULTS". WebCite. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
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