At their core, the Olympics are all about the best in the world going head to head in competition. But would they prevail in a head-to-head viewership showdown against another of the world’s most popular sporting events?
Organizers of Utah’s next Winter Games just might find out.
Salt Lake City plans to host the 2034 Winter Olympics from Feb. 10-26 of that year with the Paralympics following March 10-19. Typically, the Olympic Games have the world stage to themselves. But in 2034, they may have to share that stage with the one of the only other global sporting events that can rival the Olympics in popularity: the FIFA World Cup.
In a vote scheduled for Wednesday, Saudi Arabia is expected to win the right to host the 25th edition of soccer’s behemoth quadrennial tournament. Because summer temperatures often crest 100 degrees Fahrenheit, though, the country is expected to schedule the 2034 event for the winter — just as neighboring Qatar did when it hosted the 2022 World Cup from Nov. 20-Dec. 18.
That date range likely won’t work for Saudi Arabia, though, because it would fall in the middle of Ramadan. Ramadan is one of the most sacred Muslim holidays and Saudi Arabia is 90% Muslim. Plus, Saudi Arabia has already committed to hosting the Asian Games from Nov. 29-Dec. 14, 2034.
As a result, the World Cup is expected to be held in either January or February of that year.
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates with the trophy in front of the fans after winning the World Cup final soccer match between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, said it and Saudi Arabia “would collaborate with stakeholders to ‘determine the optimal timing’ for the tournament,” according to a Reuters report.
Olympic organizers aren’t quaking over the potential competition, though.
Christophe Dubi, the executive director of the Olympic Games, said Tuesday that he did not expect a clash.
“The risk of having those two in parallel,” he said, “is immensely limited.”
If one did occur, though, he said he didn’t believe it would be detrimental to the Salt Lake City Games.
“With these two in different countries and continents,” he said, “from all standpoints, including a commercial one, we have virtually no risk.”
The World Cup has been gaining popularity, particularly in the United States. FIFA estimates 5 billion people worldwide engaged with the 2022 tournament by following it via broadcast, radio, online and on social media channels. Meanwhile, Americans twice broke audience records: once for the USA’s match against England and again for the final in which the Lionel Messi-led Argentina team bested France on penalty kicks.
(George Walker IV | AP) Haley Batten, of United States, celebrates her second place in the women's mountain bike cycling event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Elancourt, France.
In comparison, some 5 billion people followed the Paris 2024 Olympics, according to a report released by the International Olympic Committee on Thursday. That’s 84% of what the IOC deemed its “potential audience.” If those without media access and young children are excluded, according to Gregoire Mastrangelo, the IOC’s head of insights and analytics, “the potential audience we can reach is around 6 billion people.”
The Winter Games tend to draw smaller audiences, however. Beijing drew just over 2 billion broadcast viewers in 2022. In 2014, Sochi drew a “global cumulative audience” of about 2.1 billion, placing it alongside Salt Lake City’s 2002 Games as the most watched Winter Olympics.
Perhaps more concerning than the potential to lose viewers, though, is the potential to lose sponsors or have them stretched too thin. Visa and Coca-Cola, for example, are longtime supporters of both events. And Utah organizers plan to rely heavily on sponsor support to make good on their promise to foot the estimated $2.83 billion bill without tapping into funds from state or local taxes.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, left, tours the Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron Plaza with Fraser Bullock, center, and Derek Parra, at the University of Utah, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the organizing committee for the Salt Lake City-Utah Games brushed off any concerns about the overlap.
“The FIFA World Cup overlaps the Winter Games every time in terms of being in the same year,” Bullock said. “So, it’s nothing new there.”
Bullock added that he shares Dubi’s outlook. And if anything, Dubi seemed excited about the prospect of such a sport-heavy winter.
“This,” Dubi said, “is going to be for sports fans a real feast.”
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