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At any rate, there is lasting cachet in hosting the five-ring circus, even if you have to share it with a provincial rival. What’s more, the International Olympic Committee has embraced the concept of regional bids and the utilization of existing infrastructure; factors that reduce the cost and spread the benefits of hosting. And perhaps more importantly, there is a real willingness in Calgary to work with Edmonton on an Olympic bid.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” said Doug Mitchell, chair of the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority. “But let me just say this, one step at a time.”

Edmonton mayor Don Iveson took a step forward on Monday, shortly after Calgary’s Olympic intentions were made public, by reaching out to Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi. On Tuesday, Iveson went a step further, discussing the potential for a regional bid.

“I think we’d really need to know from the provincial and the federal governments whether there was an appetite and a fiscal capacity to run two major international events in the same year. I would suggest that’s probably tough.

“But the other interesting possibility is, that under the new bid rules for both Commonwealth Games and Olympics, you can bid as a region, as opposed to just as a city. So I think that opens up some intriguing possibilities to talk about maybe an Alberta games as opposed to it being just one city. I think that will be an interesting question to explore in the next little while, if there is appetite provincially to go ahead with this.