The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team triumphed at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. Might they do the same at a 2042 Winter Games in New York City or Lake Placid?
REUTERS/Mike Segar
When the controversial New York City bid to host the 2012 summer Olympic Games failed, many New Yorkers thought that it may have been the city’s last, best hope at attracting the greatest sporting competition in the world.
The fact that New York City has never hosted an olympiad since the modern games debuted in 1896 has always been puzzling. New York is the unofficial capital of the world, after all — home to people from every corner of the globe, where almost every language is spoken. There is also no place in the world that celebrates athletic competition like we do (just ask the NBA Champion New York Knicks).
There could be no better host for a global event celebrating peace and diversity through athletics than New York City, yet the Olympics have been held everywhere but here. That, however, could change very soon.
On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a potential joint bid by New York City and Lake Placid to host the 2042 Winter Olympics.
Lake Placid, the small town in the Adirondack Mountains, has hosted two previous Winter Games, in 1932 and 1980. The joint bid is inspired by the most recent Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, which saw a unique partnership between one of Italy’s biggest cities and a winter resort town.
Much like the Milan-Cortina games, an NYC-Lake Placid games would be a cultural and economic coup for New York state and the city.
Both the Big Apple and Lake Placid already have the infrastructure in place to host the marquee events; Lake Placid can hold the outdoor events such as skiing and bobsledding, while New York City has major arenas that could host major indoor attractions such as hockey and figure skating. Minimal investment in new infrastructure would be required, which would help tamp down the cost of the Olympic Games.
We imagine putting a bid for 2042 would not be as expensive as the failed bid for the 2012 games, which had envisioned New York City building a massive Olympic Village in Queens and an athletic stadium on the West Side of Manhattan that would have later been converted into a home for the New York Jets.
A low-cost Winter Olympics in New York City and Lake Placid would be a boon for both. The city would reap billions of dollars in new economic activity from tourism and investments made in renovating existing infrastructure. It would not be merely a vanity project for New York’s status as a global city, but rather an investment that will help keep it viable years from now.
We hope the NYC-Lake Placid gambit moves beyond exploration. It’s time New York City finally hosts an Olympic Games – a collaboration seemingly made for each other.