Utah 2034 Olympics and Utah Valley: Peaks Ice Arena, Money & Timeline

Living September 2, 2026 15 min read ✓ Updated September 2, 2026

JoAnn Giordano Editor-in-Chief, Provo.com

On a Wednesday in July 2024, in Paris, the International Olympic Committee gave the 2034 Winter Olympics to Utah, and a certain part of Provo — the part that remembers 2002 — started counting. The count was ten years then. It is seven and a half now, and the state has a name for it: Utah 2034, unveiled in November 2025 as the first Olympic Games branded for a state rather than a city.

Utah County has exactly one place in the plan, and it is the same place it had in 2002: Peaks Ice Arena, the 2,300-seat rink on the east bench of Provo, listed in the bid documents as Ice Hockey II. Everything the Olympics bring to Utah Valley — the money, the attention, the traffic, the training camps, the eight years of annual news — flows through or around that building.

This is the guide to what 2034 actually means here: the venue and why Provo has it, how the plan has already shifted, what the state has committed, what the valley gets beyond the rink, and the milestones between now and the opening ceremony. It is an evergreen page that will be revised as the news arrives; the Peaks Ice Arena guide carries the arena's own current status, and this page carries the Games.

The Games, Briefly

The Olympic Winter Games are proposed for February 10-26, 2034, with the Paralympic Winter Games March 10-19, 2034. The IOC named Salt Lake City the preferred host in November 2023 and awarded the Games on July 24, 2024. The organizing body is the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, led by Fraser Bullock, who ran the 2002 organizing committee's operations; in November 2025 it unveiled the Utah 2034 name and a provisional emblem at an event that also debuted merchandise and an art installation at the Salt Lake airport.

The bid's central claim is that no new permanent venues are required. All 13 competition venues exist or will be temporary, ten of them were used in 2002, and no additional transport or housing infrastructure is being built for the Games — a deliberate contrast with 2002, which built TRAX and rebuilt I-15. The Olympic Village is the University of Utah, and the plan's layout puts every venue within about an hour's drive of it.

The venues, as the plan stood in 2024: Rice-Eccles Stadium for ceremonies; the Delta Center, the Maverik Center, and Peaks Ice Arena for ice sports; the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns for long-track speed skating; the Salt Palace for curling and the media center; Block 85 downtown for big air; Snowbasin for alpine; Soldier Hollow for biathlon, cross-country, and Nordic combined; Utah Olympic Park for sliding, ski jumping, and freestyle; and Deer Valley and Park City Mountain for freestyle and snowboard.

Peaks Ice Arena: Ice Hockey II

Peaks Ice Arena sits at 100 North Seven Peaks Boulevard in Provo, opened November 20, 1998, built for $12.4 million by Provo City and Utah County through a joint ice sheet authority. It hosted ice hockey in the 2002 Games alongside the E Center (now the Maverik Center) in West Valley City. It is home today to UVU's men's hockey team, the Peaks Youth Hockey Association, several high school teams, a figure skating club, and a learn-to-skate program, and it was BYU hockey's home until 2022.

In the 2034 plan it is Ice Hockey II: the second hockey venue, hosting preliminary-round games while the primary venue hosts the medal rounds. Provo's mayor, Michelle Kaufusi, has described it as the state's only self-sufficient Olympic venue, meaning it has covered its own operating costs since 2002 without support from the legacy foundation that maintains the Oval, the Olympic Park, and Soldier Hollow.

The Olympic reconfiguration will change the rink. Olympic hockey has moved to NHL-standard ice — 200 by 85 feet, narrower than the international 200-by-100 sheet the arena was built with — and the stated plan, per Utah 2034 leadership's January 2026 visit to Provo, is to narrow the arena's north sheet to that standard — which pulls the boards in, makes room to rebuild the locker rooms behind them, and changes the ice for the hockey that uses it the other 51 weeks of the year — while leaving the south sheet, where public skating lives, at its current width. The arena's ownership structure, its funding, and what the reconfiguration does to its tenants are covered in the Peaks guide, which we keep current.

The 1989 Deal

The reason a 2,300-seat rink in Provo is on a list with the Delta Center and Snowbasin is a piece of Utah politics from 1989.

That year, Utah put a referendum to voters authorizing the state to pursue the Winter Olympics and to spend sales-tax money on venues. Utah County's leaders refused to support it unless the county was promised at least one Olympic event. They wanted a speed-skating oval. What the bid committee eventually delivered was an ice sheet — the arena that became Peaks — and the promise was kept in 2002, when the arena hosted hockey. The 2034 plan honors the same promise, and in the same building.

It is a small thing, and it explains a lot. Utah County is not an Olympic county the way Summit and Salt Lake counties are. It has one venue because it negotiated for one, and it keeps that venue because taking it away would reopen a settlement from 35 years ago.

How the Plan Has Already Moved

The 2024 venue list was described as final, and within months it was changing — a preview of the next seven years.

In October 2024, Ryan Smith, owner of the Jazz and the new Utah Hockey Club (renamed the Mammoth in 2025), said publicly that Olympic hockey would be played at the Delta Center, which in the original plan was the figure skating and short-track venue. The organizing committee's Bullock confirmed a shift had been in the works: hockey to the Delta Center, figure skating and short track to the Maverik Center, which had been the primary hockey venue. Peaks Ice Arena's role as the second hockey venue was unaffected.

The Delta Center's ongoing renovation — the lower bowl rebuilt in 2025 for hockey sight lines, the upper bowl in 2026 and 2027, a new garage and plaza — is being done with 2034 in view, and the downtown sports and entertainment district the Legislature authorized in 2024 is the largest single piece of Games-adjacent construction in the state, even though the bid says no new venues are required. Our Delta Center guide covers the arena as it is now.

Expect more of this. Venue assignments, event schedules, and capacities will be revised through the early 2030s as the IOC's program changes and Utah's facilities do. What has held is the geography: Salt Lake City zone, Wasatch Back zone, and two stand-alones — alpine at Snowbasin and Ice Hockey II in Provo.

The Money

The bid's financial premise is that a Games on existing venues is cheap by Olympic standards, funded largely by the IOC's contribution, broadcast and sponsorship revenue, and ticketing, with the state's role being venue readiness rather than construction. That is broadly the 2002 model, which ended in surplus and endowed the legacy foundation that has maintained the Oval, the Park, and Soldier Hollow since.

For Utah Valley, the state money that matters is venue money. The Legislature has appropriated funds toward Olympic venue readiness in recent sessions, and Peaks Ice Arena's reconfiguration is on the list of venue work the organizing committee has described. The specific dollar figure for Peaks, and who pays what share — state, county, city, organizing committee — is the kind of number that is set in an appropriations bill, revised in the next one, and reported differently depending on what is counted. We do not publish a single figure here because there is not a single durable one yet; the Peaks guide tracks the current allocation as it is reported.

Beyond the arena, the economic case for Utah Valley is the one every host region makes: visitor spending during the Games, lodging for the Provo hockey games and the Soldier Hollow events an hour away, construction and event jobs in the years before, and the long tail of attention. In 2002, Utah County's share of that was modest, because the county was smaller and the events were few. In 2034, the county will be a metro of well over 800,000 people with its own hotel base, its own airport service, and Silicon Slopes at its north end, and the share will be larger even if the venue count is the same.

What Utah Valley Gets Beyond the Rink

The competition list is one venue. The periphery is wider.

Training and practice ice. Olympic hockey teams practice on ice other than the competition sheets, and Peaks Ice Arena has two sheets. BYU and UVU facilities were used as training sites in 2002 and are the obvious candidates again; the organizing committee assigns practice venues in the final years before the Games.

Lodging and the Soldier Hollow connection. Soldier Hollow in Midway, the biathlon and cross-country venue, is about 45 minutes from Provo up the canyon, and its spectator lodging in 2002 spilled into Utah Valley. With Heber Valley's hotel base still small, the same will happen in 2034, and the Soldier Hollow guide covers the venue.

Fan zones and cultural programming. Host regions stage a cultural festival and community celebrations alongside the Games. In 2002, Provo had a medals-plaza-style celebration and a torch relay stop; expect the organizing committee's community program, announced in the early 2030s, to include Utah County events.

The torch relay. The 2002 relay came through Utah Valley in the days before the opening ceremony. The 2034 route will be announced in 2033.

Transportation. No new infrastructure is being built for the Games, which means FrontRunner — now with a station at Vineyard and plans for double-tracking — is the Games transit for Utah Valley spectators heading north, and the I-15 corridor is the pressure point. Our FrontRunner guide covers the line as it is now.

The Paralympics. The March Paralympic Games use a subset of the venues — the Maverik Center for para ice hockey, Soldier Hollow, Snowbasin, the Park, the Salt Palace — and Peaks Ice Arena is not in the Paralympic plan as of the 2024 documents.

Volunteering, and the 2002 Memory

The 2002 Games ran on roughly 25,000 volunteers, and a striking number of them were from Utah County — BYU students, retirees from the east bench, families who took two weeks off to drive shuttles and check credentials. For a lot of Provo, that is the memory of 2002: not a ticket, but a jacket.

The 2034 volunteer program will be announced by the organizing committee in the early 2030s, and if it follows 2002 and every Games since, it will recruit a year or more ahead, require an application and training, and assign roles by venue. Peaks Ice Arena and the training sites in the valley will need local volunteers, and the Soldier Hollow venue an hour away will draw from here as well. A family that wants to be part of it should watch the organizing committee's site from about 2031; there is nothing to sign up for yet.

The other 2002 memory Utah County residents raise is traffic, and it is a fair question with a different answer this time. In 2002 the county was a third of its current size and the Games mostly happened north of the Point of the Mountain. In 2034 the hockey games at Peaks will bring Games traffic to the mouth of Provo Canyon, the Soldier Hollow events will run through it, and I-15 between Provo and Salt Lake will carry spectators both ways with no new lanes. The organizing committee's transportation plan, due in the early 2030s, is the document to read; expect it to lean on FrontRunner, park-and-ride, and restrictions around the venues for the competition days.

How to Follow It

The organizing committee publishes at utah2034.org and through the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. The IOC's Olympics.com host pages carry the official venue plan and dates. Provo City's Peaks Ice Arena page carries the arena's calendar and, when it comes, the renovation schedule. The Utah Legislature's appropriations bills each session carry the venue money. And we keep three pages: this one for the Games, the Peaks guide for the arena, and the Wire for anything that moves between sessions.

The Countdown, in Milestones

Seven and a half years of news, in the order it will arrive.

2026. The Milano Cortina Winter Games in February were the first dress rehearsal; the organizing committee is staffing up; the Delta Center's second renovation phase; the Mammoth's first playoff appearance; the Utah 2034 brand rolled out. The first venue-use agreements.

2027-2028. Sponsorship rounds; the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games as the next U.S. Olympics and the model for the domestic sponsorship program; Delta Center renovation complete; the first detailed venue budgets, including Peaks Ice Arena.

2029-2031. Venue upgrade work; Peaks reconfiguration on the calendar; the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps as the second dress rehearsal; volunteer program announced; ticketing framework.

2032-2033. Test events at every venue, including a tournament at Peaks; ticket sales open, likely in 2033; the torch relay route; the cultural festival program; the organizing committee's transportation plan.

February 10-26, 2034. The Games. Hockey at Peaks. March 10-19, 2034. The Paralympics.

Each phase will produce Utah Valley news, and we will file it: on this page for the Games, on the Peaks guide for the arena, and on the Wire when something moves.

2002 and 2034, Side by Side

For the residents who were here in 2002 — and Provo has a lot of them — the comparison is the natural frame.

In 2002, Utah's population was about 2.3 million; it is past 3.5 million now and will be higher in 2034. Utah County was around 370,000; it is past 700,000. The 2002 Games built TRAX and rebuilt I-15 through Salt Lake; 2034 builds nothing. The 2002 Games had 78 events; the 2034 program will be larger, with big air, more freestyle and snowboard, and expanded para events. The 2002 Games were Salt Lake's; 2034's are the state's, by name. The Delta Center was a basketball arena that hosted figure skating; it is an NHL arena that will host hockey. And Peaks Ice Arena was a new rink hosting its first big event; it will be a 36-year-old rink hosting its second, on ice narrowed for the purpose.

What is the same is the shape: a compact Games on the Wasatch, one venue in Provo, and a county that got it by asking.

Related Guides

Frequently Asked Questions

When are the 2034 Winter Olympics?

The Olympic Winter Games are proposed for February 10 through 26, 2034, with the Paralympic Winter Games following March 10 through 19, 2034. The International Olympic Committee awarded the Games to Salt Lake City-Utah in July 2024, and in November 2025 the organizing committee rebranded them as Utah 2034 — the first Olympics named for a state rather than a host city. The dates are the organizing committee's proposed schedule and have not moved since the bid.

What Olympic events will be held in Utah County?

Ice hockey, at Peaks Ice Arena in Provo, which the bid plan lists as Ice Hockey II, the second of two hockey venues. The primary hockey venue was the Maverik Center in West Valley City in the original plan and has since shifted toward the Delta Center as the Utah Mammoth's owner and the organizing committee discussed the downtown arena taking hockey. Peaks Ice Arena's role as the second hockey venue has held through those changes. It is the only competition venue in Utah County in the plan, the same role it played in 2002.

Why does Provo have an Olympic venue at all?

Because of a deal struck in 1989. When Utah put an Olympic referendum to voters that year, Utah County's leaders declined to support it unless the county was guaranteed at least one Olympic event. They originally wanted a speed-skating oval; what they got was an ice sheet, and Peaks Ice Arena — built by Provo City and Utah County through an ice sheet authority, opened in 1998 for $12.4 million — hosted hockey in 2002. Its inclusion in 2034 is the continuation of that promise, and Provo's mayor has called it the state's only self-sufficient Olympic venue, meaning it has covered its own operations since 2002 without a legacy endowment.

Is the state spending money on Peaks Ice Arena for 2034?

The bid's premise is that no new permanent venues are required and that all 13 venues exist or are temporary, so the money is for upgrades, not construction. The Legislature has appropriated funds toward Olympic venue readiness in recent sessions, and the Peaks Ice Arena renovation — the rink will be reconfigured to the narrower NHL-standard width, which changes it for the youth and university hockey that use it now — is on the list of venue work. The specific dollar figures for Peaks are set in state budget and organizing-committee documents that will be revised repeatedly before 2034; our Peaks Ice Arena guide tracks the arena's own status. Treat any single number you read as a snapshot.

Will there be Olympic events in Provo besides hockey?

Not competition events in the current plan. What Utah Valley is positioned for is the periphery: training and practice ice, team base camps, spectator lodging for the Provo hockey games and the Soldier Hollow Nordic events an hour away, cultural and fan-zone programming that host regions typically stage, and the general flow of visitors through a valley that sits between Salt Lake and the southern Utah parks. BYU and UVU facilities have been used as training and practice sites in past Games and are the obvious candidates. None of that is scheduled yet; the organizing committee's community and cultural programs are announced in the years just before the Games.

What is the timeline between now and 2034?

Seven and a half years, in roughly three phases. Through 2028: organizing committee staffing, venue agreements, and the first sponsorship rounds; the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games are the reference point and the next U.S. Olympics. 2029 through 2032: venue upgrades, including Peaks Ice Arena's reconfiguration; ticketing framework; volunteer recruitment announced; the Milano Cortina 2026 and 2030 Winter Games as the two dress rehearsals. 2033: test events at venues, ticket sales, the torch relay route. February 2034: the Games. Each of those phases produces news for Utah Valley; we file it as it comes.

How is 2034 different from 2002?

It is bigger in every direction except the venue list, which is nearly the same. The state has grown by more than a million people since 2002, Utah County has roughly doubled, and the events themselves have multiplied — big air, more freestyle and snowboard disciplines, expanded para events — while the plan reuses 10 of the 2002 venues. The Games are also branded for the state rather than the city, the Delta Center is now an NHL arena, the University of Utah village is the same, and no new highway or housing infrastructure is being built for the Games, which is a deliberate contrast with 2002's TRAX and I-15 construction. For Utah Valley, the practical difference is that the valley in 2034 will be a metro of its own, not a suburb.

Will Utah Valley residents be able to get tickets?

Yes, through the same ticketing program as everyone else, when it opens — for recent Games that has been roughly a year before the opening ceremony, with a lottery or phased sales for high-demand events. Hockey at Peaks Ice Arena, with a capacity around 2,300 after reconfiguration, will be one of the smallest-venue and therefore scarcest tickets of the Games; preliminary-round games in the second hockey venue are also historically among the more accessible Olympic tickets. Utah residents were offered priority in some 2002 ticket phases; whether 2034 does the same will be announced by the organizing committee in the early 2030s.

JoAnn Giordano

Editor-in-Chief

JoAnn Giordano is the editor-in-chief of Provo.com. Having lived in and around Utah Valley for years, she leads the site's editorial direction with a focus on the comprehensive, honest local coverage that helps residents, students, and newcomers feel at home. When she's not shaping Provo.com's restaurant and neighborhood coverage, she's exploring the valley's trails and tracking down the best new spots on Center Street.

Utah 2034: What the Winter Olympics Bring to Utah Valley — Peaks Ice Arena, the Money, and the Eight-Year Countdown