Should Calgary host the Winter Olympics again? At Arup we believe so – but whenever this question resurfaces the conversation usually follows a familiar script. Supporters point to economic benefits. Critics point to costs or question the long-term value. Both sides revisit the legacy of 1988 and debate whether hosting another Games is worth the investment. Yet perhaps more interestingly, Calgary represents something increasingly rare in the Olympic movement: a location where the Games actually fit.

Hosting the Olympics around the world has become more difficult. Costs have risen, public skepticism has grown, climate change has reduced the number of viable winter destinations, and cities are increasingly reluctant to build large amounts of infrastructure for a few weeks long event.

In response, the Olympic movement itself has begun to change. The emphasis has shifted away from building new venues and toward using what already exists, meaning the ideal host is no longer a city willing to reinvent itself for the Games but a city whose existing systems, infrastructure, and climate already support the event. Calgary stands out as an ideal host for this very reason.

Too often, Olympic legacy is discussed in airy, abstract terms. Cities promise long-term benefits that may or may not materialize. Unlike many potential candidates, Calgary does not need to imagine what the impact of a Winter Olympics might look like.

Much of what was built for 1988 continues to serve athletes, communities, and visitors nearly four decades later. The Olympic Oval remains active, Canada Olympic Park continues to operate, and the Canmore Nordic Centre still hosts training and competitions. Generations of athletes have emerged from facilities originally built for the Games, and over the past decade, these venues have remained as international competition sites, regularly hosting World Cups and world championship-level events across speed skating, snowboarding, Nordic skiing, and para sports. That may be one of the most underappreciated Olympic success stories anywhere in the world.

Calgary also has an advantage in its geography. The reality is that the future of the Winter Olympics may depend on a relatively small number of places that possess the right combination of climate and mountain geography. Not every city can provide that, and fewer can provide it without massive new construction.

Successful delivery requires insight and experience

Hosting a major event is not simply a matter of location and venues. It requires systems of institutions that can work together under pressure, with governments capable of coordinating decision-making and volunteers, operators, emergency services, transportation agencies, and sports organizations that understand what large-scale delivery entails. Knowledge, experience, and trust matter. These strengths rarely appear in financial analyses, yet they often determine whether a major event succeeds or struggles.

The original 1988 Games revealed something that now appears remarkably modern: the event was never confined to a single city. Long before regional hosting became a model, as we saw with the Milan-Cortina Winter Games earlier this year, Calgary had already done it. It functioned across a broader regional system connecting Calgary, Canmore, Nakiska, Kananaskis, and the mountain communities beyond. Today, as the Olympic movement searches for more sustainable hosting models, that approach feels less like history and more like a blueprint.

A future Games would not be about Calgary alone, but about an entire province. It would connect Calgary's urban capacity with the mountain communities that have shaped Canada's winter identity for generations. It would showcase how cities, towns, transportation networks, recreation assets, tourism economies, and natural landscapes can function together as a single system.

Canada has been developing this capability over decades, through Vancouver 2010 and countless world championships in between. In many ways, Alberta already operates as the kind of regional platform the Olympic movement is increasingly seeking.

Let’s reframe the question

Of course, none of this means Alberta should automatically pursue another bid. Public concerns deserve to be taken seriously. Questions about costs, priorities, housing, transportation, and long-term value are legitimate, and any future proposal would need to demonstrate clear public benefit long after the closing ceremony.

The Winter Games are entering a period of profound change. Climate pressures are narrowing the list of viable hosts, public expectations are rising, and the era of building entire Olympic landscapes from scratch is drawing to a close.

Perhaps the larger issue is not whether Alberta needs the Olympics, but the fact that the Olympics might need places like Alberta. Only a small number of regions possess the mountains, the climate, the infrastructure, and the institutional capacity required to host this kind of event responsibly. Alberta is one of them. Here, opportunity is more significant. The province has the potential to demonstrate how the next generation of Winter Games can work: regional rather than centralized, practical rather than extravagant, and built sustainably upon existing strengths rather than temporary ambitions.

Alberta is poised to redefine how successful Winter Olympics and Paralympics are delivered in the decades ahead. Now, that would be a conversation worth having.