Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were awarded the 2026 Winter Olympics at the 134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019, beating a joint bid by the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Åre.
However, despite the infrastructure being ready, it required a roof which impact and cost studies indicated would be very expensive, potentially breaking the budget.
One of the spokespersons to reject this proposol was the Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala and officials from the host regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
[7][8] During the bidding process, the joint Committee proposed to restore the Eugenio Monti olympic track in Cortina, to be relaunched as a federal centre also for sledding and skeleton.
An annual expenditure of €400,000 was also planned for the management of the facility, which would be open four months a year, to be settled through the establishment of €8 million fund.
Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run in Lake Placid, New York, US, has been officially designated the back-up venue if the new track is not ready in time.
A new 16,000-seat multi-use arena designed by David Chipperfield is being constructed in Milan's Santa Giulia district, which will host ice hockey.
Another change occurred with the withdrawal of combined alpine individual skiing events, as alow technical indices recorded in recent years.
On 6 March 2021 during the Sanremo Music Festival finals, two candidate designs titled "Dado" and "Futura" were unveiled by former Italian Olympic gold medallists Federica Pellegrini and Alberto Tomba.
[41][42] The emblem consists of a stylized "26" written in a single stroke, representing the impact of "small gestures", and "sport, solidarity, and sustainability".
The winning candidates, designed by the students of a school in Taverna and inspired by stoats,[44] were presented during the second night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2024 on 7 February 2024.
[46][47] The choice of stoats has been explained as being due to these animals' embodiment of "the contemporary Italian spirit" of curiosity, ability to change according to the seasons, and capacity of adaptation to challenging habitats.
On 7 March 2022, "Fino all'alba" ("Until the dawn")—composed by the youth music group La Cittadina of the San Pietro Martire in Seveso, and performed during Sanremo by Arisa — was announced as the winner.
Discovery,[51] with free-to-air coverage and digital rights owned by RAI under a sub-license agreement with the European Broadcasting Union.
The contract covers pay television and streaming rights to the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics on Eurosport and Discovery+ in 49 European territories.
[51] Unlike the previous contract where corporate precursor Discovery, Inc. was responsible for sub-licensing them to broadcasters in each country,[53][54] free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the EBU and its members to cover at least 100 hours of each Winter Olympics.