2026 Olympics a chance 'to tell a different story about Calgary,' bid boss tells forum

Fresh from a marathon session at city hall, where she convinced just enough members of council not to kill the Calgary 2026 bid process, Mary Moran told a forum on Thursday that hosting the Games is an opportunity to reintroduce Calgary to the world.

The bid corporation CEO was joined on the panel discussion at MRU by University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe and University of Guelph business-of-sports scholar Norm O'Reilly.

It was moderated by Darren Krause, founder and editor of LiveWire Calgary.

Moran says Calgary has to grapple with a new economic reality where the energy sector has undergone a structural shiftand will not be the driver of jobs that it used to be.

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"We have to reposition our community. And perhaps there's an opportunity, by having a global spotlight, to start to tell a different story about Calgary," she said.

"I look at this and think aboutwhat is the long-term benefit for our community."

Moran also noted that hosting the Games in 1988 likely helped convince thousands of people to move to Calgary.

"I look at the increase in population between '86 and '89 and think about the 90,000 new people who moved here during that period because they knew more about Calgary than they did prior to the Games.

A motion to cancel the bid process came up just two votes shy on Wednesday after Moran and Calgary 2026 board chair Scott Hutcheson were grilled by councillors all day about a funding formula agreed to by Ottawa and the province.

The proposal calls for a revised total of $2.875 billion of required public funds, down from $3 billion.

Calgarians will get to vote on whether the city should continue to pursue the bid in a plebiscite on Nov. 13.

Tombe argued at the forum that Olympics are megaprojects unlike others, with benefits that are sometimes hard to measure empirically.

Intangible benefits

"And that's fine. I think a lot of the benefits, in terms of the economic aspects of the Games, are intangible. And we should be comfortable with that lack of precision, with our inability to really hang our hat on a specific number," he said.

However, he said it's important to include in the debate a discussion about which public spending priorities would be pushed lower in order to stage the Games.

"The public dollars being put into the Games are being reallocated from other uses," he said.

"Now, it is absolutely OK to rank spending on the Games above other priorities, that's a really productive debate to have. But we have to recognize that we are making a choice about reallocating dollars from one activity to another."

O'Reilly reiterated Tombe's point about the importance of the intangibles.

He said Calgary will need to think beyond strictly the quantifiable economics of hosting the Gamesand find ways to weigh the possible benefits of such things as improving Calgary's ranking around the world.

"You can quantify it, but not economically. You don't put volunteer development, or sport development, or community development, or city branding, in terms of dollars from that investment. You measure it in other ways," he said.

"If you go purely economics, it's a tough, tough decision. If you start to value those other things vis-a-vis other levels of risk and investment, be them health care, roads, etc., then you, as the citizens of Calgary have to make that vote and decide on it, whether it makes sense for you."

Chamber of Commerce on board

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce threw its support behind the bid on Thursday, saying it has the potential to "anchor positive momentum for Calgary's business community."

The chamber's CEO, Sandip Lalli, said in a release the organization supports a bid based on the funding framework revealed on Wednesday and called on bid officials to bring the business community on board with a "commerce-centric" plan.

"If we can keep the bid financially modest and the vision bold, thenthe international platform the Games offerscangrow commerce, bolster deal flow, enhance the reputation of Canada's industries, and stimulate investment," said Lalli.

"We commend the bid committee and all levels of government for getting a disciplined deal done. It's time now to give the business community a further voice to drive the Calgary can-do vision forward."

Speaking to the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi says that while he didn't enjoy the "weird process" that resulted in Wednesday's release of theframework for a funding deal, he is now convinced it's a winning formula.

"When you look at this deal, it's a really good deal," he said.

"I'm going to vote yes, and I hope people will as well."

Nenshi says that at the end of the day, Calgary is being called on to ante up just under $400 million $300 million of which goes toward a fieldhouse that has been high on the city's priorities list for a long time.

Another $40 million or $50 million will pay for much-needed upgrades to facilities such as WinSport and McMahon Stadium, Nenshi said.

"In return for that $400 million we get $4.2 billion. That's a 10-to-1 return. And to me, that really makes a ton of sense for Calgary, setting aside all the benefits we will get from all these infrastructure improvements."

Nenshi also countered a contention by a Montreal sports economistwho says the true cost of staging the Games in Calgary could reach $8 billion.

'Made-up number'

Moshe Lander says there is usually a 50 per cent cost overrun on Olympic Games.

"That's clearly a made-up number. It has no basis in fact," Nenshi said.

"We're not doing Sochi. We're not doing Pyeongchang. We're not doing the summer Olympics, which are 10 times larger, which he uses to calculate those numbers. We're not even doing Vancouver."

Nenshi says big cost overruns arise largely because of capital investment, which in Calgary will be deliberately modest.

"We're not building a lot of stuff here. And that's very much on purpose. This is a lean Olympics," he said.

"But the other thing is, in the budget, there is already $1 billion in the budget to cover for any contingencies or unexpected overruns, and that's already funded."

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