Why Denver dumped the 1976 Winter Olympics

A couple of years ago, Chicago spent in excess of $50 million to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. In their corner: Barack Obama, recently elected president, international superstar and Nobel Laureate. They had the most developed infrastructure of any city in the bidding. But they still couldn't make it happen. Despite all their resources and glad-handing, the OC picked Rio de Janeiro instead.

So why would a city reject the opportunity to host the Olympics? Because, back in the early 1970s, Denver, Colorado, wasn't trying to market itself to the rest of the world. Denver was trying to keep the rest of the world out.  It seems almost inconceivable today, but back then, Colorado's most powerful political forces got elected on an anti-growth platform.  And if your primary focus is anti-growth, you don't want the Olympics coming to town.

In 1970, Denver was awarded the Olympics, outbidding a number of other larger cities, including most recent Winter Games host Vancouver, Canada. Colorado has always rightfully had renown as an epic Winter playground, so it wasn't a huge surprise. What did come as a surprise was the political reaction internally.

Denver has always had a "close-the-door-behind-you" attitude. Colorado is the only state where it is common to advertise, on bumper stickers, that you are a "native." What does native mean, in this context? That your family has been in Colorado for one whole generation!  For most of the world, this would be a ludicrous thing to boast.  The vast majority of people come from the same place that their parents do. But not here. Colorado's population is over 5 million now, according to the 2010 census. But in 1970, it was only a little more than 2 million.  In 1940, it was right around 1 million. Ever since it became a state, Colorado's population has at least doubled every 35 years or so. 

As such, Colorado has always had anti-transplant sentiment. But one man made a career out of it better than any other. And so, in 1972, a hot shot young lawyer and accountant named Dick Lamm started raising a stink about the Olympics.

Not that young or hot shotty anymore

Lamm sparked a movement to turn the main bond issue to fund the 1976 Olympics into a public referendum. In November 1972, he made it happen, and the state’s voters got to choose whether to authorize a $5 million bond issue to help finance the Games.

Colorado, long home to aggressive anti-government and anti-tax movements, wanted nothing to do with it. The voters body-slammed the proposition by 60-40 margin. One week later, Denver officially abdicated its status as host city for the 1976 Olympics.

Dick Lamm later was elected governor of Colorado three times, largely catapulted by the political capital he earned in sending the games to Innsbruck, Austria.  He was famous for trying to kill the construction of C-470 (an essential roadway circumventing the city) and pretty much every other major public works project that was proposed during his tenure.

Shortly after he left office, Colorado finished C-470, embarked on plans to build E-470 (the other half of the circumvention project), began construction on a a massive new airport and a baseball stadium, all while completely refurbishing the main arteries going through Denver.  And Denver's population started skyrocketing once again.

Since then, Denver has tried on multiple occasions to reignite a movement to host the Olympics. They've never made it past the early bidding stages.  And probably never will.