Park City, U of U Delegates Return from Italy with 2034 Olympics Lessons

Acting Park City Manager Jodi Emery returned from Italy with a pointed warning: Utah's geographic advantage for the 2034 Winter Olympics is also its greatest vulnerability.

"Because our venues are so close, we're going to have a lot of pressure on Park City and Summit County's infrastructure," Emery said after participating in the International Olympic Committee's observer program at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. She and Mayor Ryan Dickey, councilmember Tana Toly, Summit County Manager Shayne Scott and Summit County Councilmember Tonja Hanson attended the Games in February as part of that program. Scott and Emery later presented their findings to a joint session of both councils at the Marsac Building.

Italy's venues were spread across hundreds of miles of Northern Italy's mountain terrain, a configuration Emery described as creating "logistical silos." Cortina sits roughly five hours from Milan, a distance that Visit Park City President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff called "an emotional experience" just to traverse. Utah's venues, clustered tightly around Park City, eliminate that travel burden for spectators but concentrate every operational demand onto a single corridor.

Transit emerged as a non-negotiable from the Italy visit. "Transit isn't just a good idea, it's the only way to ensure that our residents, workforce, and volunteers can actually move while the world is here," Emery said.

Scott came back focused on something more unglamorous: keeping basic municipal services running. He recounted how the IOC contacted local Italian municipalities during the Games asking for a minor plumbing fix. The response, as Scott described it: "We can't fix that drip. We're completely overwhelmed by these Games. It'll be two weeks." The exchange sharpened his thinking about how Park City and Summit County maintain snow removal and routine operations while hosting the world. Scott also noted that contingency planning dominated conversations throughout the trip, summarizing a lesson heard repeatedly: plan B became plan A. One afternoon, delegates slogged through hundreds of yards of mud to reach the luge venue; by the next morning, wood chips lined the path.

On the resort side, Snowbasin COO Davy Ratchford spent six consecutive days in February moving between events, talking to dozens of people. He left thinking about how many viewers would see Snowbasin on phones and televisions worldwide. A Deer Valley executive identified only as Bennett described Italy's fan activations in city parks as "kind of a pop-up village," adding, "The energy felt really great there. I think that's something I'd love for Park City to emulate." Bennett's vision for 2034 is to make Deer Valley a hub where visitors return between events. The Utah observer group also included representatives from the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, Park City Mountain Resort, Ski Utah and the Utah 2034 Organizing Committee.

At the University of Utah, Scott Doughman, the school's director of strategic initiatives and Olympic planning, framed the 2034 Games as a defining moment for students who have not yet enrolled. "They are going to live through an amazing event they will remember for the rest of their life," he said at a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute panel. Brad Wilson, CEO of the privately funded 2034 Organizing Committee, addressed low-snowpack concerns directly: "We can't control the weather. So we're going to try to adapt. If we had a winter in '34 like we have now, we absolutely could host the Games. Would it be challenging? Yes. Are we prepared if it happens? Absolutely."

The Italy and France trips are expected to be two in a longer series of observation visits before Utah hosts in 2034. Two Summer Olympics and one Winter Olympics are still scheduled between now and then, providing additional opportunities for delegates to refine their planning. Utah was awarded the 2034 Games in July 2024, and both Park City and Summit County have been coordinating ever since, aiming to replicate the kind of youth-sports legacy the 2002 Salt Lake City Games produced. The 20 minutes allocated for the Marsac Building presentation was widely considered insufficient to cover both the Italy learnings and the next concrete steps in local planning.