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Calgary To Discuss 2026 Winter Olympic Bid

City council is meeting behind closed doors Monday.
Scott Grant/CP

Calgary city council is set to meet behind closed doors Monday to discuss whether or not the city should bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Calgary Sport Tourism Authority will be briefing council on the idea, CBC News reported.

If the city is interested in putting forward a bid, it would first have to go before the Canadian Olympic Committee before moving forward to an official application.

"It did a lot for the city back in 1988. It put us on the map."

So far no other Canadian cities have expressed interest in hosting the 2026 Olympics. In 2015, Quebec City expressed interest briefly before dropping out.

Quebec City's mayor cited concern that astwo of the International Olympic Committee members evaluating games bids are Swiss, the committee might unfairly favour Switzerland, according to SportsNet.

A number of cities in Switzerland have expressed interest in vying for the games.

Coun. Ray Jones said he'd be interested in a Calgary bid.

“It did a lot for the city back in 1988. It put us on the map internationally sports-wise and (as) a city (of) volunteers... Immediately following the 1988 Games, it really boosted tourism in the area," Jones told the Calgary Herald.

Calgary's Olympic Plaza was built in the heart of the city for the 1988 medal ceremony. The plaza is filled with bricks that were sold to the public to commemorate the games. (Photo: Getty)

Calgary was the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympics. The games were an enormous economic and public relations success, bringing in about $1.4 billion for the Canadian economy and cementing Calgary's place as a winter sports destination, according to a report commissioned by the Vancouver Olympic Committee.

If chosen, Calgary would join three other cities — Lake Placid, U.S.; Innsbruck, Austria; and St. Moritz, Switzerland — who have hosted the Winter Olympics twice.

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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