Utah's Image and the Olympics
By Jonathan Holcomb
Image is everything. How you look, and walk and talk. That sets the standard. Not only for people but for things and places too. So my group and I set out to see what Utah’s image was and where we got it. What we found was that Utah got its image from the 2002 Olympic games. My group and I were interested in seeing what those Olympic Games did for the state of Utah and how it’s affected us.
The Utah 2002 Winter Olympic Games caused Utah to not only gain an image worldwide but also brought more people to Utah. Before the 2002 Olympics Utah was known for having the Great Salt Lake and Mormons. Because of that Utah was vastly avoided by most tourists hurting our economy and our ability to advertise. Those 2002 Olympic games helped not only raise property values, but also caused an increase in total revenue for winter sports companies. The Winter games allowed the world to see all the amazing outdoor opportunities that Utah had to offer which increased the popularity. Since more people wanted to experience the Great Outdoors that Utah has to offer, more people bought houses which meant that the prices for properties along the Wasatch front rose an enormous amount. Additionally, people also bought and rented more equipment from all the providers here in Utah. This boosted total revenue by 7% after the first winter season following the 2002 Winter Olympics and increasingly more the following years. How it effected the state as a whole is that it allowed for more tourists. That boosted the total amount of money spent in local shops by about 12%, which allowed local businesses to flourish and grow larger. This in turn allowed the whole state of Utah to gain more money and allowed for more public transit and public buildings and nicer facilities, which in turn made even more people want to visit Utah and the Wasatch Front. The 2002 Olympics also gave the University of Utah buildings to use for dorms allowing for more students at the U, giving more money to Utah. Our initial public transit program was made for the Olympic games, which have been a huge help in making all parts of Salt Lake City and even other neighboring towns connected and accessible, causing more growth in revenue and population.
The 2002 Olympic games gave us these railways and ones that go all the way to Park City as well as other routes for busses up the canyons and through the city.
The 2002 Olympics also gave us the ability to build more nice houses along the Wasatch front and even in the canyons because their was all of a sudden a demand for places to live and the prices behind those demands kept growing and growing.
