The great city of Calgary, Alberta, home of the Calgary Flames, are currently mulling a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics. As most things related to the International Olympic Committee go – given the 2002 Salt Lake City corruption charges, the wonkiness of the entire Sochi Games and the well-publicized ills of the Rio Games – many people are rightfully nervous about the prospect of a bid.
The Olympics are a big, sometimes scary animal. They're expensive, in part because they are thinly disguised attempts to redistribute cash and infrastructure under the guise of sport. That said, they can be transformative – most arguments in favour of a Calgary 2026 bid point to the massive influx of resources for Canadian winter sports that have set up western Canada as a world-renowned training center for speed skating, skiing and various other endeavours involving ice, snow and Canadians.