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- Switzerland plans to bid for the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympic Games.
- It convinced local sports federations to back its bid by pledging to keep the budget to $1.7 billion.
- If achieved, the budget would be the lowest ever for the Olympics.
Switzerland, one of the world's richest countries, is trying to keep costs down for the Olympics.
On Friday, the Swiss Olympic Association announced the country would be bidding for the 2030 or 2034 Winter Games. The country's officials had pledged to keep the games' budget to 1.5 billion Swiss francs, or $1.8 billion — the revenue it expects to take in from the event — to win the votes from local sports federations.
If Switzerland manages to stick to the budget, it will be the cheapest Winter Olympics ever — after adjusting for inflation, according to Bloomberg.
Fewer and fewer countries want to host the games. It takes a massive investment to host the Olympics, and the host population often reaps few financial benefits from the event.
In fact, Swiss citizens have already rejected at least three previous bids for the Winter Olympics in recent years, per Bloomberg.
Even though the International Olympic Committee is based in Switzerland, it has never hosted the Summer Games. The country has hosted the Winter Games twice — in 1928 and 1948.
The last edition of the Winter Olympics in Beijing had an official price tag of $3.9 billion — busting its initial $1.6 billion budget. However, an Insider investigation showed the total amount spent may be in excess of $38.5 billion.
The 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, cost about $15 billion.
Since Switzerland is already a winter sports hub, Swiss officials said they are aiming to keep costs down by using existing venues or refurbishing existing venues. They also said they would use existing accommodation rather than building a whole new games village.
"Switzerland is lucky to already practically have all the necessary infrastructure, ranging from sporting venues to its transport network and accommodation," Urs Lehmann, the president of the Swiss Ski Association, said last month, per Reuters. "Let's seize this opportunity."