A spotlight on Ontario’s young up and coming winter athletes will be on hold until at least 2018 after no municipality put forward a bid to host the province’s 2016 Winter Games.
“It’s important to understand that in order for a Games to go forward, a municipality must first bid and then be chosen to host,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport in a statement to Global News.
“Unfortunately no municipality put forward a bid for the 2016 Ontario Winter Games.”
The ministry spokesperson said a new simplified bidding process has recently been adopted to make it easier for municipalities to host future Games.
This includes increased funding by over 30 per cent and extended bid timelines.
The province says the economic impact of the Winter Games is about $6 million with between 2,700 and 3,500 athletes participating.
The City of Mississauga is still slated to host the 2016 Ontario Summer Games and the Town of Midland the 2016 Ontario 55+ Games.