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I'm sure @Australian Kiwiwill be around shortly to criticise this as it was Victoria that bid for the games not the Commonwealth.

At this point, it's like a poker game, only Salt Lake has a full house and the IOC has a pair of tens. Will the IOC fold? They are trying hard not too, and have given the ridiculous excuse of climate change as a reason for postponing the election. That's a PR stunt to try to show they are still in control of the process. At this point I think they have no choice, and I would wager to say that this "dialogue" is probably more like financial negotiations involving the IOC, SLC, and LA, and I agree completely this discussion is not even happening if LA was not hosting 2028. SLC can milk this for all it's worth. Right now the IOC has no one else ready for 2030 and the one city that is ready wants 2034 instead. This mess goes beyond Sapporo's PR problems and Salt Lake's preference for 2034. The IOC's reforms (Agenda 2020 and the New Norm) have been exposed as a failure. Te ihdea of making the bidding process simpler and less expensive and encouraging cross-country bids and the use of existing venues, in theory, should have brought more interest in the WOGs from traditional winter sports powers like Norway, Switzerland, and Austria, but nothing has come of it which indicates that there is still a great of skepticism towards the IOC (and they haven't done themselves any favors by insisting that Russian and Belarussian athletes complete as neutrals). Vancouver had everything practically ready to go and the BC government determined the financial costs were not worth it. Sapporo doesn't just have the bribery scandal hanging over their heads but the fact that Tokyo spent way beyond their budget and lied about the actual numbers in terms of losses. Put those two together and no wonder there is hostility towards another bid in Japan who I think will not host again after all this mess until the 2040s at the earliest. The WOGs are withering on the vine and the IOC has no solution. A permanent rotation of hosts, while it sounds good in theory, does not help, if a city decides to have a referendum when their turn comes up. Meanwhile, SLC should call the IOC`s bluff and threaten to walk if their demands for 2030 are not met. Who else would they turn to? Sochi?