Colorado Springs – The president of the Colorado Springs Sports Corp. announced Monday that the city will serve as host of a third consecutive State Games of America in 2009. The city also hosts in 2007.
Corporation leader Tom Osborne said he expects the national State Games will bring about 12,000 athletes and their followers to the Colorado Springs area. The city put up a $50,000 bid fee to get the commitment.
“We were awarded the Games because we have world-class venues such as the Air Force Academy and we have a staff that has more than 50 years of State Games experience,” Osborne said.
While the sports leadership community in Colorado Springs and Denver celebrated landing another national State Games – the run began with the 2005 event – the possibility of a bid for a Winter Olympics has become a lunch-time topic, said Terry Sullivan, president of Experience Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.
“I think there’s interest growing in the Denver market where ‘Olympics’ is no longer a word that can’t be publicly mentioned,” he said. “There’s growing interest that Colorado may consider looking at another Winter Olympics. Events such as the State Games have marketing value in the selection process for cities to play host to the Olympic Games.”
Sullivan noted that Bill Hybl, a former president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, brought up the possibility of an Olympic bid in his acceptance speech April 18 when he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Denver’s image as a host city for the Olympics was tainted when a successful bid to bring the 1976 Winter Games to Colorado was turned back to the International Olympic Committee. Voters supported a ballot issue that restricted use of public money to stage the Olympics. The IOC moved the 1976 Winter Games to Innsbruck, Austria.
Sullivan said the earliest any possible bid to bring a Winter Olympics to Colorado would be for the 2018 Games.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.