Utah
Most Americans don’t know Utah is hosting another Olympics. But they have thoughts about the 2034 Winter Games name
As Italy’s Milan Cortina Olympics came to a close Sunday with a ceremonial hand off to the French Alps as the site of the next Winter Games in four years, everyone was looking ahead to Utah hosting in 2034, right?
Maybe not.
Sure, a new Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 88% of Utahns know their state is where the “next next” Winter Games will be held eight years from now, a decision made by the International Olympic Committee in July 2024.
But a national poll for the Salt Lake City-based newspaper and the University of Utah institute showed pretty much the opposite. Nearly three-quarters of Americans, 72%, said they weren’t aware that Utah had been selected to host the 2034 Winter Games.
Both polls were conducted by Morning Consult, which polled 769 registered voters in Utah Feb. 11-14 and 2,002 registered voters nationwide Feb. 10-13. The Utah poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4% and the national poll, plus or minus 2%.
The lack of national awareness doesn’t seem to worry the leader of Utah’s Winter Games.
“It’s understandable,” said Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, given that the state’s second hosting gig is so far away.
“Over time, we will close the gap on that number and get to a majority,” he said. “Particularly after the French Alps Games, when we’re the next Games, we should see a steady rise over the years.”
Bullock said Utah also can expect “a fair amount of attention” when Los Angeles holds the 2028 Summer Games as the next Olympics and Paralympics for athletes with disabilities being held in the United States.
Utah won’t be able to start selling sponsorships and making other moves in the marketplace until after the LA Games. That’s also when NBC, which holds the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2036, is likely to start promoting Utah’s Winter Games.
Building national recognition will take time, said Bullock, who served as chief operating officer for the 2002 Winter Games in Utah. But just how organizers will try to raise the state’s profile as the host of the 2034 Games is yet to be determined.
“Let me put it this way, we’re planning to plan that,” Bullock said. “We know its something we need to do.”
Recognition of Utah at the Milan Cortina Olympics
Utah’s still-small organizing committee did have a presence at Italy’s 2026 Winter Games, including their first formal presentation to the IOC and a news conference where many questions from the international news media were about U.S. President Donald Trump.
Even so, there wasn’t much talk in Milan about the 2034 host, said Robert Livingstone, producer of GamesBids.com, a Toronto-based website that follows the competition to host future Olympics and Paralympics.
“More people were aware of Switzerland (bidding) for 2038 than that Utah had won for 2034,” Livingstone said. “People were talking French Alps and they were like, ‘Who’s after that … oh, right, Switzerland.’ I heard that a number of times.”
He said in conversations about future Winter Games, people were focused on Switzerland, which was granted a unique status as the sole bidder for 2038 by the IOC, and would “just skip over Utah because they haven’t heard anything about Utah.”
And while the French Alps had the chance to showcase the 2030 Winter Games during Sunday’s Closing Ceremonies in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Verona, the Utah Games won’t have the opportunity to do the same until the end of France’s Olympics four years from now.
One of the few hints that an American city was the site of an upcoming Winter Games came during the Feb. 6 Opening Ceremonies, when Team USA marched third from last in the Parade of Nations, ahead of athletes from France and then Italy, to signify the order of future hosts.
That same order was in place for each country’s flag bearers during the Closing Ceremonies.
Matthew Burbank, a University of Utah political science professor who’s authored two books about the Olympics, said Utah organizers were in effect limited in what they could do in Italy to promote the 2034 Games.
“I don’t think it was the time and place,” he said, noting the IOC’s “script” for future hosts calls for them to “wait your turn, stand in line, do what you’re supposed to do, show up at our meetings … but don’t call undue attention to yourself.”
The professor wasn’t surprised that Utah’s status isn’t widely known nationwide.
The Winter Games already attracts less attention than the much larger Summer Games that feature more popular sports, Burbank said. So with Los Angeles hosting those in 2028, he said if Americans “are thinking about the Olympics at all, that’s what they’re thinking.”
That’s no doubt the case globally, as well, Burbank said.
“I don’t think most people could name the French Alps as the next Winter Olympics after Milan. So with the one after that, it gets even farther away,” he said, although there’s a possibility that “because Salt Lake has held the Games before, there might be some recognition of that.”
Should 2034 be the Utah Games? Or the Salt Lake City Games?
When attention does shift to 2034, it will be on what’s been renamed the Utah Games.
In 2002, it was Salt Lake City that hosted because the IOC only awarded Games to a city. Now, cities, regions or countries can host, even joining up — as the cities of Milan and Cortina did this year.
Polling found that Utahns are split over what to call the 2034 Olympics, with 47% backing the organizing committee’s announcement late last year that they would be the Utah Games, and 32% behind the Salt Lake City Games name. Another 21% didn’t know which they preferred.
Nationally, the poll results were more clear-cut, with 50% saying the 2034 Olympics should be called the Salt Lake City Games and only 14% supporting the Utah Games name. Those who didn’t know was higher than in Utah, at 36%.
The 2034 Games organizers believe Utahns and the rest of the country will come to accept the switch from the Salt Lake City-Utah tag used throughout the Olympic bid process, which lasted more than a decade.
“The change is fairly recent and it will take some time for people to become familiar with that and accustomed to it,” Bullock said. “It will evolve over time. But remember this is a transition period where we can’t do a full launch of a brand until after the LA Games.”
Announced just before last Thanksgiving along with a new and controversial logo at the unveiling of a massive new installation at the Salt Lake City International Airport, the new “Utah 2034″ name is here to stay even though a different logo is expected in 2029.
“The name element is established,” Bullock said, promising that the 2034 Games will “have a much more comprehensive identity after the LA Games,” thanks to the ability to establish a stronger brand.
That may be a little easier in Utah, where unlike the rest of the country, the population is already overwhelmingly aware that the state is hosting in 2034. Bullock is convinced all Utahns will eventually know they’re going to welcome the world again.
“I’m thrilled that it’s 88%,” he said. “We’ll continue to spread our message, so we’ll get the other 12% that aren’t aware the Games are coming. We’re excited our citizens of Utah are paying attention to our Olympic and Paralympic future.”
What Utah organizers did in Italy during the Olympics
For Bullock, the Milan Cortina Games weren’t about increasing awareness for 2034.
He and the more than 100 other Utahns, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who traveled to Italy for the Olympics largely stayed behind the scenes to get a firsthand look at putting on a Winter Games.
“It’s not our turn on the stage. We respect very much that it’s Milano Cortina’s time to shine in front of the world, as they are doing a great job,” Bullock said. “And that the baton will be handed to the French Alps.”
That meant long days of meetings about topics like technology and hospitality as well as participating in the IOC’s observer program that provides access to the back-of-the-house at Games venues as well as to operations, security, transportation and other functions.
All of it was “incredibly valuable,” Bullock said. “It’s always enjoyable to see the fulfillment of the dreams of a host … how things come together, how proud they are of the work that they’re doing, how they’re welcoming the world in their unique way, reflecting their people and their culture.”
That will happen for Utah 2034, too, he said.
“We’re just biding our time,” Bullock said. “Because we know our time will come.”
PROVO — The preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson is expected to wrap up Friday morning in Provo. But it will still be several weeks before a decision is made on whether there is enough probable cause to bind him over for trial.
Robinson, 23, is charged with 10 crimes, the most serious being aggravated murder, in the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. A preliminary hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient probable cause to go to trial on the charges levied against a defendant.
The Utah County Attorney’s Office finished calling their witnesses to testify on Thursday. Robinson’s defense team, who have already called two forensic experts from the FBI and ATF to testify, are expected to call one more on Friday before resting. Robinson has been attempting to cast doubt on the reliability of DNA testing, arguing that test results are subjective.
Prosecutors have objected several times to the line of questioning, arguing that it falls well outside the bounds of what is needed for a preliminary hearing. Even 4th District Judge Tony Graf warned defense attorney Michael Burt on Thursday during one line of questioning, “I feel we are exiting the orbit of probable cause.”
At the end of a preliminary hearing, both sides typically give closing arguments, and the judge decides if there is enough evidence for a defendant to proceed to trial. On Thursday, Graf granted a defense motion for each side to first submit briefs summarizing their arguments. The state will submit its brief by July 28, followed by the defense’s reply on Aug. 11 and the state’s rebuttal on Aug. 18. After that, another hearing will be held on Sept. 1 for both sides to present their cases in court.
Also on Thursday, portions of the video interview of Robinson’s roommate and boyfriend at the time of Kirk’s death, Lance Twiggs, were shown to the courtroom after much debate.
In addition, screenshots of the text messages exchanged between Twiggs and Robinson, a note Robinson left for Twiggs and messages on Discord that Robinson allegedly sent to his friend group prior to turning himself in, were all displayed in court.
For each piece of evidence introduced during the week-long hearing, Graf has had to decide:
- Whether to admit that evidence into the record;
- Whether that evidence should be shown to everyone in the courtroom;
- Whether that evidence can be filmed by the livestream camera broadcasting the hearing.
Robinson’s defense team remains adamant that broadcasting evidence to people outside the courtroom will jeopardize their client’s right to a fair trial by prejudging a future jury pool. Prosecutors want the evidence shown to everyone for the sake of transparency. Graf has compromised on several pieces of evidence by allowing them to be displayed to people in the courtroom but not on the livestream feed.
The extended debates over what evidence can be shown to the public and what is only viewed by attorneys and the judge have prompted Jeff Neiman, the attorney for Erika Kirk and the Kirk family, to address the courtroom several times, both in person and in a briefing filed Wednesday night, calling on the court to make all evidence public.
“For 10 months, the victim’s family has waited for this preliminary hearing. Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, and his grieving parents traveled to this courtroom for one reason: to be present at these proceedings and to bear witness to the evidence concerning the death of their husband and son. At certain points throughout the preliminary hearing, the Kirk family sat in the room while evidence was admitted but not presented for their viewing. They were present in body, yet denied the very thing their presence was meant to secure: their ability to meaningfully observe the preliminary hearing,” Neiman said. “The victim’s family’s position is simple. At a minimum, every exhibit entered into evidence during the preliminary hearing must be visible to every person lawfully present in the courtroom.”
Erika Kirk and Charlie Kirk’s parents have been in the courtroom all week for the preliminary hearing.
At Neiman’s request, Graf agreed that at the end of court on Friday, he will show to the courtroom only the enhanced UVU surveillance video allegedly showing Robinson’s movements across the roof of the Losee Center and when he drops off the roof and runs to a wooded area off Campus Drive. The video includes moments in which film editors zoom in on the alleged gunman and impose a red circle around him to make it easier to view. The video was originally submitted as evidence but was only shown to Graf and attorneys.
Friday’s hearing begins at 9 a.m. Watch it livestreamed here:
It’s on nights like these that I’m reminded of the ravine that divides the NBA from all other levels of basketball. This Summer League tilt was sloppy on both sides, and not many fringe players earned an NBA contract tonight, by the looks of it.
This matchup has always been about the number-one pick AJ Dybantsa and the number-two pick Darryn Peterson. Rivals since high school, these two are in an eternal struggle for the designation of being “number-one”. They wanted to be the best in their high school class. They wanted to be the first off the board in the NBA Draft. Rest assured, these two will be battling for Rookie of the Year honors by the season’s end.
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Both stars were fully aware of the magnitude of this game, and both wanted to be the first to strike in the Thomas and Mack Center.
Dybantsa took his first touch all the way to the basket and forced up an off-kilter shot that missed everything.
Peterson took the ball the other way and forced up a top-of-the-key three-pointer that missed badly.
Dybantsa quickly picked up the slack, flipping an under-and-around lay-in and following that up with a good leading bounce pass through traffic to find a cutting teammate.
From there, the 1-2 combo settled in and let the game flow around them.
For the first time in a Utah Jazz uniform, Darryn Peterson walked among mortal men as a commoner. He had a very slow start in his Las Vegas debut, opening the night 0-for-3 from the floor and even whiffing on his first all-or-nothing foul shot. His steps were hurried, and he stood unstable before his first trip to the bench. Not quite so infallible outside of the mountain air in Salt Lake City.
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AJ claimed the first quarter, dicing up the defense with fadeaways, dribble chains, and this vicious, inhumane slam that will dominate your social media feed for the next day or so.
Washington set the tone for some — should we say physical — defense out on the perimeter, and the officials gave the Wizards liberty to reside in Peterson’s chest for the majority of the game. The number-two pick couldn’t get himself into a rhythm as he’d step out of bounds, dribble off his foot, and sputter under the heat of the Wizards’ aggressive double-team scheme.
They were incredibly handsy from end to end, frustrating Jazz ball handlers as the whistles piled up at the other end.
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AJ Dybantsa lives at the foul stripe — that’s his superpower — and he has since his days at BYU, where he led the nation in foul shots taken per game. Perfectly within his idiom, Dybantsa was 6-of-7 from the foul stripe — keeping in mind the experimental do-or-die free throw rule. Considering how much more physical the Wizards played at the defensive end, it’s a mystery how the Wizards managed to reside in the comfort of the bonus for the entire first half.
Neither player was efficient from the floor, but Dybantsa won the first half of this marquee matchup.
Dybantsa finished the first half with 19 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Peterson lagged behind with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting and a pair of dimes.
The lead shrank to single digits, and what appeared to be a blowout in the first half — Washington led by as much as 20 — rapidly drew tighter in the second half. It had become a two-possession game before the clock hit 0:00 in the third quarter.
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Both stars lived up to the bill in this one, clearly displaying their individual talents despite their efficiency not leaping off the box score.
Peterson’s tendency to cough up possession has to get straightened out. He’ll be a target for his whole career, so learning to handle and exploit on-ball pressure will be critical to maximize his effectiveness and keep his teammates involved.
Cody Williams stole the show a bit for the Jazz, despite a rocky opening to the night. Though he struggled to stop Dybantsa on the defensive end, he notched 16 points on great efficiency (6-11, 2-3 3PT) plus 5 rebounds. He’s not a ball-handler, despite the Jazz’s wishes, but thrived on a newly added stepback mid-range jumper tonight.
Dybantsa had a strong night, finishing with 27 points on 7-for-18 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.
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The Wizards ultimately won this game behind the strength of their NBA guys, Tre Johnson and Will Reily, who combined for 41 to pair with Dybantsa’s 27. They also strongly benefited from Jamir Watkins, Darryn Peterson’s assignment fouling a grand total of 9 times (not a typo).
Peterson likewise fouled 9 times in this one, an ugly blemish on what was an unsteady night for the rookie. He finished with 24 points on 6-18 shooting and 2-7 from three-point land (thanks to a bank-shot heave at the final horn). Dybantsa will be crowned the winner of this head-to-head with Peterson thanks to better highlights and the team win, but neither player dominated, despite what X will likely tell you.
Washington defeats Utah with a final score of 92-88.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The man arrested for murder in the 2006 death of his wife at a Utah national park left behind a suicide note in his Las Vegas jail cell, according to a police report.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police released a public report on the death of David Vander Meer, 49, who was in custody on an out-of-state warrant.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in an affidavit that Vander Meer, a former youth pastor, was a suspect in the death of his then-wife, 28-year-old Bernadette Vander Meer, 20 years ago.
Bernadette fell to her death at Angels Landing in Zion National Park. Prosecutors said in their affidavit that they received new information implicating David, alleing that he began having a close relationship with a young girl when she was 14 and he was her youth pastor.
A fugitive task force took Vander Meer into custody in Summerlin, according to an arrest report, and he was booked into Clark County Detention Center on June 22.
In the report on his death, LVMPD said a corrections officer was conducting visual checks at about 9:30 p.m. June 24 when he noticed Vander Meer lying face down on the ground and unresponsive.
Several sections are redacted, but police wrote that the officer performed chest compressions until medical personnel arrived. Vander Meer was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead just after 2:36 a.m. June 25.
Investigators wrote that because of “the nature of his case,” Vander Meer was placed into protective custody. He was seen sitting upright and awake at 9 p.m., and he had no known medical conditions. He also did not mention being suicidal during a mental health screening.
Inside the cell, police wrote that Vander Meer “left a hand written suicide letter and a hand written will in his cell which has been photographed and impounded.” The following paragraph of the report was redacted, and no further details on Vander Meer’s death were disclosed.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office has not yet released its official rulings on his cause and manner of death.
Bernadette’s parents, Richard and Laura Gudenkauf, told News 3 they long suspected Vander Meer played a role in her death.
“Because of the girlfriend,” said Laura. “I found insurance policies months later that he had, lots of them.”
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