Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas wouldn’t rule out a future Olympic bid, but said citizens made the right choice to opt out of hosting the 2026 Winter Games.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games have already begun, with the official start of the 16-day competition on Feb. 6, 2026.

Calgarians rejected the pursuit of a potential bid in 2018, when 56.4 per cent of the 304,774 ballots cast in a municipal plebiscite were against it. Though the plebiscite was non-binding, former Mayor Naheed Nenshi said at the time that the direction was clear.

“Ultimately, the people have spoken. The people have spoken in big numbers, and the people have spoken clearly,” Nenshi said back in November 2018.

Farkas was asked if he had considered the possibility that he would have been the mayor to open a 2026 Winter Games in Calgary, had the event been held in the city. The mayor didn’t respond directly to the question, but bid good wishes to those with the City of Calgary, Calgary Fire Department, and many others in Calgary who were headed to Italy to compete or support the athletes.

“It’s really exciting, especially now, when we think about Canada’s changing role on the world stage, it’s super exciting to be able to cheer them on,” he said.

“It also speaks to Calgary’s Olympic legacy. Calgary has always been a place for athletes to be able to compete, to be able to train on the world stage like this, and it’s a reflection of what Calgary is.”

As a city councillor, Farkas was opposed to a Calgary Olympic bid.

“I think Calgarians made the right choice to choose not to opt for the Olympics this time around,” he said.

“There are significant challenges with the business case of that 2026 bid. Significant details were lacking in terms of the finances, security costs, and I think right now, when we see our current infrastructure situation, what’s happening with the water main, I think we’re breathing a sigh of relief that we’re not hosting the Olympics this time around.”

Potential future bid could offer renewal

Given some of the infrastructure needs in Calgary, Farkas was asked if approving that bid could have opened the door to billions in provincial and federal funding for such projects as the Foothills Multisport Fieldhouse, a Calgary airport LRT link, and things like affordable housing.

“Yes, the theory would be that if we were to proceed with an Olympic bid, it would allow for the investment to flow through back to Calgary,” he said.

“But part of the reason that the 2026 bid failed here in the city was because Calgarians didn’t see that return on investment.”

Farkas went on to say that they’ll have to look at ways they can shore up Calgary’s infrastructure without a cash injection from the Games.

Earlier this year, in a discussion with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Farkas said that what he has come to realize is that these types of events help maintain Calgary as a centre of excellence for the country.

The Government of Alberta does have a major sport event grant program, offering up to $250,000 to organizations to attract and host these events. The province did, however, withdraw support from a joint Calgary/Edmonton/Tsuut’ina Nation bid for the  2030 Commonwealth Games.

There was some speculation at the time that the province was more interested in supporting a potential future Olympic Games bid.

It’s something that Mayor Farkas said is possible.

“It’s not out of the question for us to consider a future bid at some point,” he said.

“We think about Alberta’s and Calgary’s Olympic legacy, the fact that we need to renew our Olympic Oval, other training facilities. There’s a strong business case for reinvesting and doubling down on our Olympic legacy.”