An Alaska Olympics? Let's hear it for Anchorage 2022.

• Author: Kaminis, Markos N.
• Position: SPORTS

With all the attention Alaska's Canadian neighbor to the south received this February, we got to dreaming, just what are the chances of Alaska winning an Olympics bid anyway? Furthermore, is the project even feasible enough to discuss, and how great would the endeavor be to prepare Alaska to make a viable bid? We take a hard look at Alaska's chances at becoming at least North America's next candidate to host the Winter Olympic Games. Assuming our state's chances of winning the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are within reach, we thought we would explore costs and benefits to a hypothetical Alaskan Olympics. Our conclusion runs counter to contemporary skeptics, and for reasons they may have overlooked, we are psyched for Anchorage 2022!

A STATE THAT ACCEPTS CHALLENGE

With regard to the effort necessary to make a viable bid and to successfully host the Olympic Games, we swiftly concluded that this state has overcome much greater challenges. Building the Alaska Highway, for instance, now that was hard. Filling a few missing cogs, and building facilities for the Winter Game sporting events; shoring up our infrastructure; and generally preparing the area to receive a great influx of international visitors and attention; heck, that would be easy in comparison, if not fun.

Alaska has unique characteristics that capture the soul, creating an impression on prospective tourists, and IOC members alike, of a far away exotic land of ice and ocean. We have got that going for us already, plus the backing of the most developed nation in the world.

Before we can draw up a plan though, we would need to decide just whereabouts in Alaska we might put on the big show. It did not take us long to determine that Anchorage is the most viable of Alaska's metropolitan locales. It is the city that has the least to overcome anyway, and therefore the most to offer today. First and foremost, it is easily accessible from the outside world, as the city already serves as Alaska's hub for statewide tourism. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport handles a great number of flights, albeit cargo for the most part. Still, Anchorage moves about five times more people than the airports in Juneau and Fair banks do each year. Plus, Anchorage's nearly 9,000 hotel, motel and bed & breakfast rooms offer a base of lodging significantly greater than Alaska's other towns. While wonderful landscape is commonplace across Alaska, hotel accommodations and...