Organizers say the committee will look at challenges of a bid including financial issues, venue requirements and the feasibility of hosting. Committee members will then present their findings to Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

People on the committee like the idea of bringing the games here.

Co-chair Anne Warhover points to what hosting the games can do for a city's reputation.

"Salt Lake has gotten a huge benefit," Warhover said. "It's on the map in foreign countries whereas before it may not have been."

"Where have they been for the last century?" asks conservative commentator Jon Caldara, arguing that we don't need a Colorado Olympics. "Colorado is already on the map."

Supporters admit we have bustling winter tourism, but argue this is about taking Denver's game to the next level.

"We're working on say getting this direct flight to Tokyo," Warhover uses as an example. "If Denver were on the map, we'd have a direct flight to Tokyo today."

Colorado already has a lot of what it needs to make the games happen.

There are world-class ski resorts, venues like the Pepsi Center for hockey, and a sheet of ice for speed skating in Colorado Springs.

"It's got to happen," two-time Olympian Jeremy Bloom, who's also on the committee, said. "I just think it makes so much sense to have a winter Olympics in Colorado."

Denver did win a bid to host the 1976 games, but voters struck down a bond to pay for them, making Denver the only city ever to back out of the winter Olympics.

Many 9NEWS viewers expressed some of the same concerns about tax dollars being used for the Olympics.

"If we can't afford to pay for our children's education," Tasha Knowles Greenwood wondered on the 9NEWS Facebook page. "How are we going to pay for the Olympics? Why not work on the important things first?"

Some worry that the Olympics would lead to unnecessary spending on expanding infrastructure.
"It's like a 16-year-old's Sweet 16 party," Caldera said. "It's got to be bigger than her friend's last week. And that's what the Olympics seems to be. We've got to out-do the last one."

Members of the committee seem sensitive to the issue of taxpayer funding for the games.

Several told us they are pushing to design a plan that only uses private funding.

They'll make their report at the end of March, but Denver won't make an actual bid unless the U.S. Olympic Committee decides to offer up an American city to international officials.

The USOC isn't entertaining that idea at this time due to a dispute over revenue sharing.

Denver isn't the only U.S. city contemplating a bid.

Reno, Nevada is interested in hosting the 2022 games as well, under the brand of "Reno-Tahoe."
Lake Tahoe has already had the winter games, hosting the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley.

The Denver Exploratory Committee members are:

Co-chairs 

• Don Elliman, Executive Director, Charles C. Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Biology, University of Colorado Medical School 
• Anne Warhover, CEO, Colorado Health Foundation

Members 

• Ernie Blake, former Mayor of Breckenridge 
• Jeremy Bloom, Olympian 
• Kelly Brough, CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce 
• KieAnn Brownell 
• Cedric Buchanon, City President, BBVA Compass 
• Mario Carrera, VP for Colorado Markets, Entravision Communications 
• Rob Cohen, CEO, IMA Financial Group 
• Tami Door, CEO, Downtown Denver Partnership 
• Steve Farber, Shareholder, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
• Cole Finegan, Partner, Hogan Lovells 
• Harry Frampton, Chairman, Vail Valley Foundation 
• LaCharles Keesee, Senior Advisor to the Mayor, Office of Mayor Michael Hancock 
• Ken Lund, Executive Director, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade 
• Steve McConahey, Chairman, SGM Capital 
• Chris Osborn, Chairman of the Board, Poudre Valley Health System 
• Christine Riordan, Dean, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver 
• Richard Scharf, CEO, Visit Denver 
• Hon. Elbra Wedgeworth, Chief Government and Community Relations Officer, Denver Health 
• Sara Will, Paralympian 
• Richard Young, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen

 

(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)