Denver Post seeks Olympics-coverage sponsors

We did see really good traffic in 18, and between that and our preview special section I know we always felt it was a pretty good investment that largely paid for itself. But obviously it’s a bit different model at a smaller paper.

Mark does a great job getting quirky things. The skier-who-can’t-ski story was definitely a Blevins find, though!

 

Doh! You are right. That was Jason. I feel so silly.

I actually miss that lead-up coverage to the Olympics in 18. Jason basically did a feature a Sunday for a couple of months, going to visit a Colorado Olympian who was about to head to South Korea. … Dammit, now I want Olympics coverage!

 

I promise to stop threadjacking after I post this. But when Coloradans voted out the 1972 Winter Olympics I think it was was done by passing a constitutional amendment. So Colorado State Constitution says no state funds can go towards holding an Olympics.

So when "A Let's Host the Winter Olympics" movement starts in Colorado it runs in to the obstacle that the Colorado Constitution would have to be amended. Holding the Olympics got crushed in 1972 the voters when Colorado was a solidly red state. Now that Colorado is a blue state such an amendment would likely do no better and hence is an insurmountable obstacle to a Colorado Olympics.

 

@MileHigh or others will probably know better than me, but I was in a meeting about this recent campaign and I think they’d come up with some fairy tale private funding plan that avoided the pitfalls of the previous effort. Needless to say I’m not shocked it didn’t work out.

I don’t remember anything about an amendment but that could be.

 

I stopped being lazy and used Google.

Colorado did pass a constitutional amendment amendment prohibiting the use of public funds 1972 Olympics. I had forgotten the City of Denver separately passed a similar measure.

The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search

I thought that the language to prohibit the Olympics in the amendment was not limited to the 1972 Olympics. And maybe the Denver charter amendment is the document that permanently prohibits public funding.
Salt Lake City is a better place for the Winter Olympics. When Denver got the Olympics they promised to hold the Alpine events just west of Denver near Evergreen. Even in the 1970's there was not enough snow in Evergreen to support a big downhill event. But the organizing committee was worried they would not get the Olympics if they admitted that the Alpine events would have to go to a higher altitude further from the city. Even if the Alpine events were held at Copper Mountain that would still be 75 miles from Denver and a logistical nightmare if a blizzard blew in.

I have never been to SLC but my understanding is that the ski resorts are held much closer to that city and there are not the logistical problems that exist in Colorado.

 

I know blizzards are rare in Colorado. But if one hit at the wrong time it can still create a traffic disaster. I used to play on a pretty good trivia bowl team at CU in early April. I could not get out of Castle Rock to Boulder for two days during the competition. My mom paid off a neighbor with a four wheel drive to get me to Aurora. Oddly enough conditions in Aurora was OK so I borrowed her car and drove to Boulder.

And I do think that many of the destination resorts in Colroado could serve as a second Olympic site. But the IOC has seemed to be resistant to slitting sites.

 

Update: Salt Lake Tribune is sending a reporter to Beijing.

 

To me a feature on the athlete leading up to the Olympics and telling their story of hardship is far better for print than the actual event and performance of say a skier's run. The journey is far more interesting to me and can do that without going to Beijing obviously.