An Act to Amend Articles X and XI of the State Constitution to prohibit the State from levying taxes and appropriating or loaning funds for the purpose of aiding or furthering the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. | |||||||||||||||||||
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TheDenver Winter Olympics referendum was held in November 1972 following theawarding to Denver of the 1976 Winter Olympics.[1][2]
The selection process for the1976 Winter Olympics consisted of four bids, and sawDenver,Colorado, United States, selected ahead ofSion, Switzerland;Tampere, Finland; andVancouver,British Columbia, Canada. The selection was made at the 70th IOC Session inAmsterdam on 12 May 1970.[3] In a 1972 referendum, voters inColorado rejected funding for the Olympics, the only time a city awarded the Olympics rejected them.[4] Denver officially withdrew on 15 November, and Sion, the runner-up, also declined to host the Olympics. The IOC then offered the Olympics toWhistler, British Columbia, Canada, but they too declined owing to achange of government following elections. Whistler went on to be associated with neighbouringVancouver's successful bid for the2010 Winter Olympics.
Salt Lake City,Utah, offered to host, then pulled its bid and was replaced byLake Placid, New York.[5][6] Still reeling from the Denver rejection, the IOC declined and on 5 February 1973, selectedInnsbruck, Austria, which had hosted nine years earlier in1964. In autumn 1974, Lake Placid wasawarded the1980 Winter Olympics, itssecond; Salt Lake hosted in2002 and will again in2034. To date, Colorado has yet to host an Olympics.
The amendment appeared on the ballot as:[7]
An Act to Amend Articles X and XI of the State Constitution to prohibit the State from levying taxes and appropriating or loaning funds for the purpose of aiding or furthering the 1976 Winter Olympic Games.
Richard Lamm was an obscure state legislator from Denver when he led the campaign; after the referendum he was elected to three terms asgovernor, serving from 1975 to 1987.[8]
Within three months,Innsbruck,Austria was selected as the replacement city, hosting the Winter Olympics for the second time, after1964.[9][10]
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