Making a pledge of a “significant financial donation” and widespread use of its land, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn’t hesitate in showing its support for the Utah 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
On Tuesday, Bishop Sean Douglas, second counselor in the church’s Presiding Bishopric, announced the Utah-based faith’s “broad commitment to support the success of the 2034 Games.” The announcement was made during a media event at the headquarters of the Milan Foreign Press Association in Italy, just days before the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Games.
In addition to the financial contribution, Douglas said Olympics and Paralympics Games organizers would have access to church-owned property to use as venues, parking lots and event operations areas. That includes Block 85, located across from the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
The Block 85 parking lot is expected to be transformed into the Medals Plaza and a concert venue, just as it was for the 2002 Games, said Fraser Bullock, the Utah 2034 president and executive chair. It will also likely serve as the 2034 venue for the big-air competitions, he said. The other church parcels are located, Bullock said, from Park City to Provo.
Neither Douglas nor Bullock revealed how much money the church had pledged. Bullock said, however, that his group already has the check.
“In the words they used, they’re all-in to help us wherever we need,” Bullock said in an interview, “which is fantastic.”
Douglas — who helps oversee the church’s vast real estate, financial, investment and humanitarian operations — also promised that the religion would encourage its members to volunteer at the Games, as they did in massive numbers in 2002.
“While this contribution of cash and real estate is important,” he said, “what is beyond price is the hearts and extraordinary commitment of our member volunteers who make this contribution truly complete and unique.”
How the missionary program helps
The 2034 Olympics will be the first to provide accommodations for athletes’ families. Bullock said that, thanks to the church’s missionary program — which sends tens of thousands of young people across the globe every year — many Latter-day Saints speak multiple languages. He said those experiences and skills “will be vital to our support of our athletes’ families initiative, as well as others.”
This church involvement, Douglas said, “continues a long history of meaningful engagement with the Olympic movement.
“In the lead-up to the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City,” the faith noted in a news release, “the church provided financial support, venue facilities and thousands of volunteers.”
When Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Games, the church gave $5 million ($9 million in today’s dollars) to help build the Medals Plaza, according to an article from church-owned Brigham Young University. It also allowed the use of its property for the plaza and concert site, while organizing thousands of Latter-day Saint volunteers.
That faith’s investment, though, proved controversial.
“It was ironic to [Latter-day Saint] Mitt Romney [who led Utah’s 2002 Olympic efforts] that his committee’s request for the church’s downtown property led to publicized complaints,” the article said, “that the LDS Church was attempting to steal the show by again foisting itself on the Games.”
Bullock, who was the chief operating and financial officer of the 2002 Olympics, said that then — just as now — the church wanted to be supportive of the event but not overbearing.
“It was very balanced in 2002 because the church didn’t want to give the impression there was going to be proselytizing during the Games. And they stuck to that,” he said. “They didn’t proselytize during the Games; they just volunteered. They gave us real estate. They gave us what we needed.
“So they were very judicious and careful about having a balanced approach to that, and that’s the same approach that I see today.”
Other financial assists
The church’s contribution will add to the well of donations the 2034 Games have already received. That includes more than $200 million raised through the Podium34 initiative, which taps some of the state’s wealthiest foundations and families by pairing them with similar causes and programs.
Organizers expect the Utah 2034 Olympics to cost $4 billion in 2034 dollars, including a $2.84 billion operating budget in 2034.
Bullock, in a news release issued Tuesday, expressed gratitude for the church’s aid.
“Partnerships from community organizations such as the church,” he said, “are a key reason Utah is well positioned to host another successful Games.”
This “new relationship fortifies the partnership we shared in 2002,” the organizer said. “It also extends a worldwide reach from the church that carries a global message of unity and service to others — very much in line with Olympic and Paralympic ideals.”
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics get underway Friday.
This story will be updated.