In May, EDCUtah announced the appointment of Jon Hawkins, principal at Inside the Rings, as a strategic advisor. In this role, Jon will help support community development, advise cities on Olympic readiness initiatives, and foster economic development opportunities throughout Utah.

Jon’s experience in Olympic readiness includes consulting, governance, and advocacy. He serves on the boards of the Utah Sports Commission, the Olympic Legacy Foundation, and the USA Climbing Foundation, and he also chairs the legislative Olympic Coordinating Committee. In each of these roles, Hawkins has helped shape projects, policy, and conversations around major events, stakeholder priorities, and the broader impact of sport.

Recently Jon has been talking with dozens of EDCU investors and other contacts. We caught up with him to find out more about Utah’s Olympic efforts.

What is the economic opportunity represented by the 2034 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games?

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute puts the potential economic impact at about $6.6 billion, but I think it could actually be a bigger opportunity, when you look at how businesses, cities, counties, higher education institutions can multiply the effect of the Games themselves. If these constituents really put forth an effort to participate, the economic opportunity for everyone is going to be massive. One of the reasons I say that is because the Olympics touch nearly every sector of the economy.

The organizations that are prepared to participate will benefit the most. And by prepared, it’s not a matter of starting in 2032 or even 2030, it means starting now. The partnerships that are needed to maximize the impact of the Games for your organization, those relationships take time to build. Working through logistics of things, that’s going to take time as well. Starting with a strategy and a plan now is a lot better and a lot less expensive than waiting until 2030 or 2032 to come around.

Tell us about the conversations you've been having. In general terms, who have you been talking to?

I've been talking to all sectors of the economy, organizations both public and private. It's interesting that despite the diverse nature of these organizations, the conversation is pretty much the same. It’s along the lines of “I know that I want to get involved, but I don't know how. Help me understand how to get involved.” 

What we do at Inside the Rings is to understand what a given organization’s goals are, determine the right pathway for their involvement, and then we strategize on the approach that will take the fullest advantage of the Olympic Winter Games.

Not all communities can afford to have a venue, or to be honest with you, wants to have a venue. But they do want to capture the magic that comes with the Olympic Games, and there are a set number of pathways or different routes to participating.

In our discovery discussions, we identify the different pathways that would help them reach their goals.

What are some other common questions?

There are other questions such as “Can we get a venue here? Can we actually host an event?” The answer is probably not, because the cost is astronomical and a lot of the planning is already in place. It's very limiting for communities that don’t have an existing venue that want to host a competition now.

For the communities that already have Olympic venues, they're asking, “Is this venue good enough? Does it need to be upgraded? Is there something else that's going to be built that might take that opportunity away?”

The answers here are generally that our venues are in good shape, and other than some shifting of a few ski and snowboard events to different venues, things are pretty well set.

How has the Olympic opportunity changed since 2002?

First of all, the cool thing is almost everybody is excited to have the Olympics back. There’s a lot of nostalgia around 2002 and the wonderful opportunity that it was.

One of the biggest things that I've noticed in talking with organizations and communities that were involved in 2002, the focus then was on the venues, traffic, ticket sales and merchandise sales.

The opportunity before us in 2034 includes those same concerns, but there are other opportunities. I recently talked to a contact of mine at the State Department who is the liaison to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). What he highlighted is that the IOC, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), and the organizing committee here in Utah all are working to ensure that the athletes have the best experience possible. The questions revolve around setting up the field of play and venue infrastructure, getting athletes from place to place, and housing and feeding the athletes and their coaches.

One thing my contact said to me was that no one's ever focused on how the business community can get involved, or how the fans can get involved. He made me realize, “The Olympics are coming to Utah, but how is Utah coming to the Olympics?”

An opportunity for Utah organizations is to create an experience for community members and fans. For example, how do we set up cities and counties to be able to bring people out of their homes, bring people together to have an Olympic experience that doesn't necessarily involve getting a ticket and going to an official venue. Watch parties, for example, are a way to bring residents, visitors, community organizations and businesses together to create an Olympic memory.

‍Does a business or a community have to be an Olympic sponsor to see a big benefit?

That’s another common question I hear. Not every business wants to be a big sponsor or can afford to do so. The same goes for cities. There are more modest levels of support at an individual sport level that can be very impactful for the team and for the organization giving the support.

Every other country in the world that participates in the Olympics has government sponsorship of its Olympic teams. The U.S. does not. I've talked to several different national governing bodies (NGBs). These NGBs are the official overseers of specific sports. Folks are familiar with U.S. Swimming, U.S. Ski and Snowboarding, U.S. Track and Field, those sort of organizations. The big ones are doing great and have resources. But other NGBs are not so fortunate, and have some pretty tight constraints. 

I would advise companies and communities to look for ways to get involved in the short term. As I mentioned before, I would say start planning and building those relationships now. The Olympics in 2034 might seem like a long ways away. The good thing is we have three Games between now and then that allow us to dry-run different approaches. Every year between now and 2034, any relationship with an NGB picks up momentum.

‍Are there other ways to support the U.S. Olympic effort beside financial?

As I mentioned, other national governments help sponsor their countries’ Olympic team, and because of that, those teams have funds to do a lot of research and development.

For example, with the sliding sports, especially Germany, Austria, Switzerland, even Latvia, those teams are crushing it. That’s in part due to research and spending on composite materials. They have a technology advantage over the U.S. team.

We're doing a really good job winning medals with the resources that we have here. If we could involve our manufacturing side, expand the research and development, and develop better technologies for our sliding sports, we’d be in a more competitive position with those countries that are leading those sports. The same goes for biathlon, and even ski and snowboard to an extent.

There are U.S. manufacturers out there that are willing to help, but they may not be aware of the opportunity or how to get involved. I’m encouraged by some early efforts at Weber State University and by our friends at the 47G industry association to bring better composite technology to our sliding sports. Developments like that tell me that there are opportunities to build public-private partnerships that could be as meaningful to our teams as high-dollar donations.

‍What's been reaffirmed and what's surprised you?

I think what's been reaffirmed is excitement for the games. In the conversations that I’ve had, you don't have to sell them to anybody. It is one of the easiest door openers I've seen. Everyone wants to be invited and included and participate in the games.

I think that's unique to Utah. Obviously we have this phenomenal legacy from 2002. If you're out on the streets of Salt Lake or anywhere else in the state, you've got people still wearing their Olympic volunteer uniforms. That’s because of the experience they had, and the positive uplift that it was for Utah. So it’s not surprising there is total excitement.

I think one of the most surprising things are the number of organizations that are engaged in planning. There are organizations up in Ogden, for example, that have already outlined 50 to 60 different projects that they want to work on. These are to support a reimagined downtown Ogden, in other words, a level of planning to make the city a major Olympic hub.

These are not small-scale projects, and that effort reaffirmed to me that it’s time to start preparing now across our state.

‍What’s one thing you wish people knew about the Olympics?

Everybody at the organizing committee is doing a phenomenal job. They're great to work with, and they're great people. They have a lot on their plate and a lot of people don't understand what the committee’s responsibility is. I’ve talked to some of the members, and they say they can’t do what people are asking them to do. 

Some of the requests are simply not in the committee’s scope. There are very strict parameters that the organizing committee can and can't do. The committee just has to focus on what those responsibilities are, and not try to get every organization in Utah involved. That's why EDCUtah and the Chambers of Commerce are great places to begin the process of getting involved. We can figure out a plan together, and not be a burden on the organizing committee.

‍What’s the relationship between Inside the Rings and EDCUtah?

Six months ago, I called Ryan Starks of EDCUtah and told him I was starting this consulting business. I was calling to ask, “What do you think?”

His immediate response was that EDCUtah would love to bring Inside the Rings on as a strategic advisor for the Olympics. Ryan recognizes that for EDCUtah and its investors, the Olympics are perhaps the greatest opportunity to showcase Utah to the global business marketplace and to site selectors that we’ll see in our lifetimes.

So I don't work for EDCUtah but I do engage with the organization and with the clients that EDCUtah sends to me, to help them understand what the opportunity is for involvement in the Olympics. My services can help strengthen the relationship with EDCUtah. We’ll provide more detail in the coming months.