Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is exploring a bid to bring the 2042 Winter Olympics to New York City and Lake Placid.
In an interview with The Athletic, Hochul said plans are underway to launch an exploratory committee to study a formal Olympic bid for New York City and Lake Placid to work in partnership as host cities.
Hochul says significant meetings are underway.
New York State last hosted the Winter Olympics in 1980, where those games are best remembered for the "Miracle on Ice" when the U.S. men's ice hockey team upset the Soviet Union.
"There is a lot of energy behind this," said Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell & Associates with WBEN. "An Assembly member from Brooklyn, Robert Carroll, has been pushing this and traveled to Italy where the Winter Olympics were hosted jointly by Milan and Cortina."
The two Italian cities are about 250 miles apart, whereas New York City and Lake Placid are approximately 300 miles apart.
"The idea is to combine what New York City has to offer, in terms of ready made venues and transportation, with Lake Placid, which has a history of hosting the Olympics."
But is there a financial risk with this bid?
It's well-documented that most Olympic host cities lose significant amounts of money from massive cost overruns and the burden of maintaining expensive, specialized "white elephant" venues.
For example, the Sochi Olympics in 2014 cost an estimated $51 billion, and became the most expensive Winter Games in history. Many of the venues were abandoned or are heavily underused and deteriorating. During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the games left a significant debt burden on the local government.
O'Donnell noted the idea behind the bid that New York is considering is not to build a lot of new facilities.
"We have facilities in Lake Placid that the state has been investing in. They recently hosted the World University Games, and if you add in Madison Square Garden and USB Arena, where the New York Islanders play, then you're using facilities that already exist. So we'll see," O'Donnell said.
"The idea is to combine what New York City has to offer, in terms of ready made venues and transportation, with Lake Placid, which has a history of hosting the Olympics" - Jack O'Donnell
"The idea is to combine what New York City has to offer, in terms of ready made venues and transportation, with Lake Placid, which has a history of hosting the Olympics" - Jack O'Donnell
