Reviving the Flame

7. Recommendation
Based on the above findings, this chapter proposes a set of recommendations that aims at supporting
the coalition of beneficiaries, particularly the committee for Sion 2026, on how to improve their strategies.
This section further drives the reader to two project drafts offered by the author to better picture, in this
context, what type of legacies can be targeted, how it can be leveraged and who can benefit from it.
The present recommendations focus on bringing leads and ideas to the committee of Sion 2026. These
suggestions are split in two: immediate actions that concentrate on improving current issues seen in the
before and during the bid phases; and future planning that emphasise the possible leverages to be
considered to achieve the desired legacies.
7.1. Immediate Actions
7.1.1. Before the Candidacy
As highlighted by the analysis, the risks before the candidacy are classified in six categories. But they can
all be related to two major factors: communication issues and stakeholders’ scepticism.
Therefore, a key aspect to counteract these problems, is for the committee Sion 2026 to start getting
closer to the people by explaining them clearly what is targeted through their Winter Games’ plan. Many
people focus on the budget, security costs and risk of deficit. The best approach here is to clearly
communicate on the financial matters.
The feasibility file is accessible online on Swiss Olympic’s website. Also, one must keep in mind that this
PDF has 238 pages, and most people will not read the entire paper. Therefore, the committee needs to ease
the communication on key aspect of the file regarding the budget. As an example, their balance sheet is
too simple. It would be good for the public to access a more detailed balance sheet with sub-totals (i.e. per
domain), like Sion 2006 did twenty years ago (see appendix VIII & appendix IX).
Key alliances must be done in the political sphere. Parties that are still hesitant must be invited and
participate to official presentation and discussion, to make sure they do understand the whole project and
concept. Opportunities must be given for them to join the committee and improve, optimise their plan. For
political groups against the Games, the COJO must still ensure their project is well understood to avoid a
maximum of misinformation from these personalities in the media.
Recommendation 37