2030 Winter Olympics


The 2030 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games and branded as French Alps 2030, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 1 to 17 February 2030 in the French Alps region of France.
As part of the new Olympic bid process, the Future Host Commission of the International Olympic Committee nominated the French Alps as its preferred candidate on 29 November 2023. The French Alps' bid was approved during the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on 24 July 2024.
Events will be held across the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Hautes-Alpes in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and the departments of Haute-Savoie and Savoie in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Bidding process

The new IOC bidding process was approved at the 134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The key proposals, driven by the relevant recommendations from Olympic Agenda 2020, are:
  • Establish a permanent, ongoing dialogue to explore and create interest among cities/regions/countries and National Olympic Committees for any Olympic event
  • Create two Future Host Commissions to oversee interest in future Olympic events and report to the IOC executive board
  • Give the IOC Session more influence by having non-executive board members form part of the Future Host Commissions.
The IOC also modified the Olympic Charter to increase its flexibility in choosing hosts by making the date of elections more flexible and allowing multiple cities, regions, or countries to host instead of only single cities, regions or countries.
According to the Future Host Commission's rules of conduct, the new IOC bidding system is divided into 2 dialogue stages:
  • Continuous dialogue involving non-committal discussions between the IOC and interested parties with regard to hosting future Olympic events.
  • Targeted dialogue with one or more interested parties—called preferred host—as instructed by the IOC Executive Board. This follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission as a result of continuous dialogue.

    Host selection

On 29 November 2023, per the recommendation of the Future Host Commission, the IOC Executive Board invited the French National Olympic and Sports Committee to targeted dialogue proposing that the 2030 Winter Olympics be held in the French Alps.
The French Alps were conditionally ratified as hosts during the 142nd IOC Session on 24 July 2024 in Paris, France; as per the new bid process, the vote was in the form of a referendum to the 95 IOC delegates. The decision to award the Games was made under the condition that financial guarantees from federal and state governments be secured by October 2024; usually, these are secured as part of the bid process, but this was hindered by the French political crisis and 2024 French legislative elections.
In October 2024, then-prime minister Michel Barnier sent a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach to confirm the French government's financial support.
CityNOC nameYesNo
French Alps8447

Development and preparations

The impacts of climate change have become a central focus of the International Olympic Committee in planning the Winter Olympics. According to the IOC, the number of NOCs capable of hosting the Winter Olympics—which require access to snow competition venues with adequate temperature and snowfall—has declined to "practically just 10-12".
As a result of these challenges, the decision on the 2030 Winter Olympics host city was delayed until 24 July 2024 to allow the IOC more time to carefully plan the future of the Winter Olympics.
A report by the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games estimated that the Games' budget is an estimated $2.3 billion.

Venues

The venues of the Games will be split between clusters in Nice, Briançon, Haute-Savoie, and Savoie. The closing ceremony is expected to be held at the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. A venue for the opening ceremony has not yet been decided, but organising committee head Edgar Grospiron suggested in an interview with Le Monde that the ceremony may be held in the Metropolis of Lyon; the organising committee's headquarters are based at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu. Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, has pushed for Val-d'Isère to host events during the Games.
The only sport that does not yet have a confirmed venue is long-track speed skating; in April 2025, Grospiron told Le Figaro that it would be too expensive to build a new venue for speed skating, and explained that the organising committee was aiming to "reinvent the Games". The committee has explored various options, including renovating existing facilities in Albertville or Grenoble, or hosting the event outside of the country at either Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy, or Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Nice cluster

VenueEventsCapacityStatus
Stade de NiceIce hockey17,000 Existing, stadium will be divided into two indoor arenas
Stade de NiceIce hockey17,000 Existing, stadium will be divided into two indoor arenas
Palais NikaïaCurling6,500Existing
Promenade des AnglaisClosing ceremonyTBATemporary

[Briançon] cluster

[Savoie] cluster

VenueEventsCapacityStatus
La PlagneBobsleigh15,000-16,000Existing, renovated
La PlagneLuge15,000-16,000Existing, renovated
La PlagneSkeleton15,000-16,000Existing, renovated
CourchevelAlpine skiingTBAExisting
CourchevelSki jumpingTBAExisting
CourchevelNordic combinedTBAExisting
Val-d’IsèreAlpine skiingTBAExisting

[Haute-Savoie] cluster

To be determined

Sports

The International Olympic Committee approved the initial sports programme at the 142nd IOC Session: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing. The disciplines in each sport will be determined in late 2025, and is planned to be confirmed at the 145th IOC Session in Milan, Italy.
Various sanctioning bodies have announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2030 Winter Olympics:
In a February 2025 interview, organising committee head Edgar Grospiron mentioned cyclo-cross, cross-country running, ski mountaineering, speed skiing, telemark skiing and ice cross as potential new sports.

Broadcasting rights

In France, pay television and streaming rights are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery via Eurosport, with free-to-air coverage owned by France Télévisions under a sublicense agreement with the European Broadcasting Union. On 16 January 2023, the IOC announced that it had renewed its European broadcast rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. The agreement, covering from 2026 to 2032, includes pay television and streaming rights to the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics on Eurosport and Discovery+ in 49 European territories. Free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the EBU and its members to cover at least 100 hours of each Winter Olympics, with EBU member France Télévisions agreeing to broadcast the Games in France.
TerritoryRights holderRef
AlbaniaRTSH
AustraliaNine
AustriaORF
BelgiumRTBF, VRT
BrazilGrupo Globo
BulgariaBNT
CanadaCBC/Radio-Canada
Central and Southeast AsiaInfront Sports & Media
ChinaCMG
CroatiaHRT
Czech RepublicČT
DenmarkDR, TV 2
EstoniaERR
Europe EBU, Warner Bros. Discovery
FinlandYle
FranceFrance Télévisions
GeorgiaGPB
GermanyARD, ZDF
GreeceERT
HungaryMTVA
IcelandRÚV
IrelandRTÉ
IsraelSports Channel
ItalyRAI
JapanJapan Consortium
KosovoRTK
Latin AmericaClaro Sports
LatviaLTV
LiechtensteinSRG SSR
LithuaniaLRT
MexicoTelevisaUnivision
MontenegroRTCG
NetherlandsNOS
New ZealandSky
NorwayNRK
PolandTVP
San MarinoRAI
SlovakiaSTVR
SloveniaRTV
KoreaJTBC
SpainRTVE
SwedenSVT
SwitzerlandSRG SSR
UkraineSuspilne
United KingdomBBC
United StatesNBCUniversal