It’s the latest stage in the marathon that is the potential bid by Calgary for the 2026 Olympics and council is now a week away from its next key decision.

Council voted Monday to hold a vote in seven days on spending roughly $2 million on a BidCo or bidding corporation, which would do the necessary work in case council moves forward with an official bid.

City administration discussed a new report about the $2 million ask on Monday, with some councillors including Sean Chu, Druh Farrell, and Peter Demong speaking out against the idea.

“It scares the crap out of me,” Demong said about what the next six months could include regarding potential new developments from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC has said it would contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to a host city, but it’s also changed its timelines.

“We thought that we would have until about July to set up a bid committee and then if we wanted to move forward and bid, bid at that point,” he said. “The bid books are now due January 2019, they take about a year to do, so we have to move a little more quickly than we thought we would if we want to make forward.”

But Nenshi also reiterated his optimism about Calgary’s chances.

“If we choose to bid, we’ll win and so the question is, is it right for Calgary right now?” he said.

Nenshi said it’s clear the IOC is interested in Calgary and he also agreed with the notion that recent developments are breaking Calgary’s way.

“If it’s right for Calgary, then we will go all guns in,” he said.

Farrell argued the report to council on Monday focused on too many benefits and not enough risks and said there wasn’t enough discussion about why cities have dropped out of the bidding.

“I’ve rarely seen a presentation so pre-disposed to an outcome,” she said.

The Calgary Bid Exploration Committee has already projected $4.6 billion would be the total cost for the games, with $2.4 billion needed in public funding.

On the unpredictability and potential cost, Sean Chu went a step further and said council just “shut this down right now.”

One of the amendments in the Monday report was to reach out provincial and federal governments to ask if they would contribute to the new bid committee.

But Nenshi is also curious about the province and federal government contributing to a formal bid, which council has heard could cost around $30 million.

“We would need a commitment,” he said. “Both to the bid costs as a sign of good faith as well as of course to the capital costs and the security costs of the games, so that’s something that needs to happen relatively quickly.”

“I want to make sure that even $30 million isn’t way too much.”