The world’s fastest skiers on Whiteface? Big air snowboarders at Yankee Stadium? Gold medal celebrations ringing across New York?
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A Brooklyn state legislator and a former North Country lawmaker are teaming up with an audacious goal: bring the Winter Olympics back to New York, this time statewide.
Robert Carroll, a Democratic assemblymember, and Billy Jones, a former North Country lawmaker and current Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) board member, in an editorial last week proposed a future Winter Olympics hosted jointly by New York City and the Lake Placid region, drawing on the city’s global media market and numerous sporting venues and the Adirondacks’ mountain terrain and recently upgraded Olympic facilities.
Machiko Kubota of Japan competes during ski jumping at the 2023 FISU World University Games in Lake Placid, Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/FISU Games
In interviews this week, Carroll and Jones pitched an exploratory committee as the first step in an arduous and years-long process to land an Olympic bid. Host sites are booked through 2034, with potential host sites for 2038 already under consideration.
Carroll said New York wouldn’t need to build new stadiums, mentioning Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center along with the state-run facilities in and around Lake Placid — a selling point under the International Olympic Committee’s new approach to choosing host sites.
“To be able to connect Lake Placid to New York City would bring an unbelievable opportunity and have the added benefit that no new stadium infrastructure would have to be built,” Carroll said.
Jones, who earlier this year resigned from the legislature and now works as vice president of strategic initiatives and workforce development at Clinton Community College, said he and Carroll had been discussing the idea for a few years. He argued bringing the Olympics to New York would bolster the North Country economy.
“Lake Placid could never host a full Olympics like we did in 1980, but it would be great to host these key events,” Jones said.
The editorial in the New York Daily News called for establishing a committee to examine the plan’s feasibility and gauge support among stakeholders in both parts of the state. It highlighted how dividing the event between New York and Lake Placid and relying on existing infrastructure aligned with the Olympic committees shift towards more sustainable and cost-effective Games. Carroll said the distance between the host sites of the upcoming Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics is not much less than the distance between New York City and the state’s northern alpine outpost.
Darcy Norfolk, communications director for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, in a statement said ORDA supports an exploratory committee to evaluate the feasibility of hosting a future Winter Olympics and welcomed the chance to participate.
Adanna Johnson pushes her sled in a monobob race at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run. Photo by Nancie Battaglia
Norfolk said the designation of Mt. Van Hoevenberg as a backup site for the sliding events at next year’s Olympics “is a strong affirmation of the facilities’ world-class infrastructure and operational readiness.” She said exploring the feasibility of hosting alpine events would be central to the work of an exploratory committee.
Carroll, who has visited the Adirondacks since he was a kid and has a seasonal residence in The Glen, near Johnsburg, said he expected more announcements early next year about the exploratory committee and next steps. He said the planning process should be privately funded and include a wide range of stakeholders in both regions for public, private and philanthropic organizations. He said it would take a year or two before determining whether to pursue a formal bid.
The proposal for a joint Lake Placid-New York City Winter Olympics could include an Opening Ceremony in Times Square. Photo by Zachary Matson
One thing is clear: any New York Olympics would be more than a decade away. After this winter’s Games in Italy, the 2030 Winter Olympics will be hosted in the French Alps, and the 2034 Winter Olympics will be in Salt Lake City, Utah. Host sites in the running for the 2038 event are already well into the planning process.
A few years ago, the International Olympic Committee adopted a new process for choosing host sites, emphasizing relative affordability, sustainability and long-lasting value in the face of criticisms of venues sitting unused after games and host communities feeling burned in the process.
Carroll and Jones emphasized the inclusive and open exploratory process but also called for urgency to move the idea forward.
“New York must begin engaging communities, building partnerships, and defining a shared vision that reflects the soul of our state and the ideals of the Olympics,” Carroll said.