10. Denver was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympic Games in May
On May 12, 1970, a group of Denver, Colorado civic leaders were feted in the city for having won the right to host the Winter Olympics in 1976. They prevailed in their bid over cities in Switzerland, Finland, and British Columbia, in Canada. They were paraded through the city in a motorcade, and delivered speeches chronicling the 16-year effort to win the games. Detailed plans for the construction of the facilities to support the games and the visiting athletes emerged over the ensuing weeks. As they did the cheers faded away. Faced with the enormous costs, most of which were to be covered by Colorado taxpayers, factions emerged to oppose the games being held in Denver.
Denver planned for the games to be held in a string of sites between the city and Steamboat Springs, a distance of about 170 miles. Environmentalists opposed the infrastructure which was needed. Though the state offered to pay part of the costs, the bulk of which fell on the city of Denver, a grassroots movement against the games gained traction through 1970, and all of the ensuing year. In 1972, voters rejected the games with a majority of 59.4%. Having decided not to pay for the facilities, Colorado became the only entity to reject the Olympic Games after having first been awarded them two years earlier. The 1976 Olympics were awarded to Innsbruck, which had hosted them earlier and already had much of the necessary infrastructure in place.
