New York scrambles for Winter Olympics bid with urgency

New York’s governor says the state is holding “significant” meetings as officials assemble a plan to bid for a Winter Olympics, with New York City seeking to co-host alongside Lake Placid. The effort follows Milan and Cortina’s 2026 Games and builds around the

On Tuesday. New York’s governor described the work as “complicated. ” but said he is already deep in “significant” meetings to shape a Winter Olympics bid that would reach far beyond the next sport season. The goal. officials say. is to create sports memories that outlast any single medal count—anchored in the kind of national nostalgia that still feels fresh more than four decades after the 1980 Winter Olympics.

The governor told a national sports publication that he is putting together the people he would want on a committee. He framed it as a long. deliberate effort. one that he connects personally to the “Miracle on Ice.” He said he was in college when the U.S. hockey team pulled off its famed upset of the Soviet Union. and that he even remembers where he was—working behind the counter in a pizzeria. listening on the radio and announcing play-by-play to customers.

To him, the story endures as more than sports history. He called it “a shrine to the perseverance of American athletes,” something he believes still lives among people who witnessed it and those who came later.

The state’s emerging plan centers on a bid that would put New York City in the mix to co-host a future Winter Olympics with Lake Placid. which hosted the Winter Games in 1980 and 1932. The push gains added momentum against a crowded international schedule: Milan and Cortina hosted the 2026 competition earlier this year. with the 1980 host community looking to reenter the spotlight.

A key piece of the public argument for New York City came in March. when Assembly member Robert Carroll wrote an editorial for the USA TODAY Network arguing that New York City should host the Winter Olympics. Carroll pointed to the hosting pattern he said has left the East Coast out of major Olympic spotlight moments—writing that with Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics and Salt Lake City returning as the Winter Olympics home in 2034. it was time for New York City to make the case.

Carroll also cited what he described as a global pull and an existing sports ecosystem. New York City. he wrote. is home to people from every nation in the world and sits at the center of global media. finance. and culture. yet it has never hosted an Olympic Games. In his argument, other major cities—including London, Paris, Tokyo, and Los Angeles—have hosted multiple times.

Carroll pointed to the Milan-Cortina Games as a proof point and said venue upkeep under Hochuli has helped keep facilities from older Olympics updated. He added that the region continues to be drawn into other major sports events, including the World Cup.

The timing is part of the challenge and part of the ambition. The earliest a New York City–Lake Placid Winter Olympics could happen is 2042. The 2030 Games are set for the French Alps, Salt Lake City is scheduled to host in 2034, and Switzerland is expected to lock in the 2038 competition.

That timetable forces New York to plan for a very different world than the one that remembers 1980 most vividly. But the governor’s pitch is still rooted in that memory—turning a personal recollection of radio calls and restaurant patrons into a justification for why the state wants to be part of the next Winter Olympics story. even if it is decades away.

New York Winter Olympics bid Lake Placid New York City co-host Miracle on Ice Kathy Hochuli Robert Carroll sports venues Olympics 2042