Edmonton was interested in pursuing a potential joint Winter Olympics bid, but the pursuit ended quickly when Calgary indicated it wasn’t interested, according to Mayor Don Iveson.
The details emerged during Tuesday’s city council meeting as the city looks at what kind of sports events should come to Alberta’s capital.
READ MORE: Calgary not considering help from Edmonton in potential Olympic bid
In May, Calgary’s bid exploration committee confirmed it’s only looking at the feasibility of Calgary along with Canmore and Banff making a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Edmonton also tried to pursue the Commonwealth Games in recent years, but that was kyboshed when the province pulled support after the price of oil dramatically dropped.
READ MORE: City of Edmonton withdraws bid for 2022 Commonwealth Games
So the city is taking a different approaching, pursuing “major and signature” events, like the World Junior Hockey Championships.
A new report is requesting a more cohesive approach when it comes to pursuing those opportunities.
“We’re recommending to do one mega event every 20 to 30 years to look at the opportunities as they’re there, but put the focus on major and signature events whereby we can build that up and build that capacity to a mega event,” Reg Milley with Citizens Panel on Major Events said.
The panel believes Edmonton needs more structure and strategic planning to bid for major events.
“What our report does is it puts the framework in place. Instead of guiding principles, this is if you follow this, you’ll come out at the end with knowing whether this event is going to be a good event for us,” Milley said.
The report has five recommendations:
- Adopt a sports event policy
- Devise a strategic sports event roadmap
- Focus on specific types of events, namely major and signature events
- Implement an evaluation process for bids on mega and major events
- Develop a sports event strategy
“Yes we’ve got a legacy, we’ve got some things to build on and we can build on it, but to take it to the next level – to really optimize and realize the benefits you’re going to get from all the effort that went in, you need to take it to the next level,” Milley told council. “That’s what we’re suggesting, and to put some structure and some strategy around this.”
In March 2018, details are expected to be released on how to implement the recommendations.
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