SALT LAKE CITY — Most of the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics will take place in and around Utah’s capital city, but Gov. Spencer Cox and event organizers believe the event’s impacts will be felt statewide.
And that sentiment is now being mirrored in the event name. Olympic organizers set up at Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday, where they unveiled a large, 12-foot sculpture with the event’s new branding: Utah 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
“The 2034 Winter Olympics are going to unify the world, but they’re also going to unify our state,” the governor said. “The focus isn’t on just 100 countries that are going to be coming here; the focus is also on those 29 counties all across the state. This isn’t just the Salt Lake Olympics, it’s not just the Wasatch Front Olympics, this is our Olympics. It is all of us together.”
The sculpture features the event’s “transition logo,” which will remain its primary brand until 2029, when Team USA’s focus shifts from hosting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to the Winter Olympics in Utah.
The name is a split from the first time Salt Lake City hosted the event, which was commonly referred to as the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. “Utah 2034” reflects how the Games will be spread out across multiple counties, while countless cultural events will be held all across the state, said Brad Wilson, CEO and vice chairman of the organizing committee.
“Utah 2034 represents more than an Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Utah 2034 represents the future that everyone in this state is building together,” he said. “It’s a statement about who we are as a state and … also about who we intend to be.”
Salt Lake City will remain with an “integrated element” of the transition logo, as its nod to the primary event host, he added. Utah’s capital city wants every community in the state to “feel connected” to the Olympic spirit as it does, added Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
Afterward, miniature flags, beanies, caps and cookies with the new logo and branding were handed out to people who showed up for the celebration. It’s part of new merchandise set to go on sale.
The whole ceremony took place as the state celebrated being exactly 3,000 days from the 2034 opening ceremonies. Olympic organizers selected the sculpture’s site for its symbolism heading into the event.
“Salt Lake City is the gateway to the world for Utah, so all the people coming … will start in Salt Lake City,” said Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, as arriving passengers walked alongside the sculpture to baggage claim nearby.
Monday’s ceremony took place more than a year after the International Olympic Committee named Salt Lake City as the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
It’s the latest update since the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games launched a fundraising effort called Podium34 in September, which landed more than $200 million in commitments to help plan out the event before sponsorship funding becomes available after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Taxpayer dollars “will only be spent to benefit Utahns,” Cox said, adding that he believes that the event will be “an economic opportunity for Utah,” as that was the case in 2002. The first Olympics in Utah generated about a $7.5 billion economic output, when adjusted to 2023 inflation, researchers at the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute reported in 2024.
In the meantime, planning also continues for a slice of what’s to come. Salt Lake City plans for a massive watch party for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games beginning in February. The event will be held at Washington Square and Library Square (near 200 East and 400 South), beginning on Feb. 6, 2026.
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