Lillehammer Olympiapark AS, trading as Olympiaparken, is a company established following the 1994 Winter Olympics to operate the Olympic venues in Lillehammer, Norway. Owned by Lillehammer Municipality, it operates five sports venues: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium, Håkons Hall, Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track, Kanthaugen Freestyle Arena and the ski jumping hill of Lysgårdsbakken. In addition to serving sports events, the company provides tourist and group activities at the venues as well as catering to larger events.
In the Lillehammer bid for the 1994 Winter Olympics, the agreement between Lillehammer Municipality and the state specified that the municipality was responsible for financing all necessary sports venues. However, after the games were awarded the responsibility was taken over by Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee (LOOC) and the town's five venues were ultimately funded through state grants. To allow for post-Olympic use, a fund was created by the state, of which Lillehammer Olympiapark received 146 million Norwegian krone (NOK). Unlike the Hamar venues, which survive on their fund's yield, the Lillehammer venues have used up their capital. From 2014 the post-Olympic use fund will be depleted and alternative organization and funding is being looked into. A leading proposal is that the bobsleigh and luge track be taken over by the state, while the remaining venues be retained by the company and jointly funded by the municipality and Oppland County Municipality.
History
As part of the 1985 and 1987 agreements with the Parliament of Norway ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics bid, Lillehammer Municipality was responsible for financing and building all Olympic venues and associated facilities. To fulfill their obligation, the municipality established Lillehammer Olympiske Anlegg (LOA) in 1989. Mr. Haavind was hired as the company's first managing director. At the same time the Post-Olympics Use Committee was established to ensure activity at the venues after the Olympics. LOA's first task was, in cooperation with local and national authorities and LOOC, to decide on locations and budgets.
By 1989, political discussions had started regarding the creation of a fund to finance post-Olympic use. The sledding track, especially, would incur high operating costs, estimated at between NOK 5 and 6 million per year. Total deficits for the five Lillehammer venues were in 1990 estimated at ca. NOK 15 million per year. Initially the government offered to grant NOK 55 million for the fund, but the Post-Olympic Use Committee estimated that NOK 215 million would be necessary. They further proposed that the capital could be used as share capital in the proposed company Olympia Vekst, which would be jointly privately and publicly owned and operate the venues.
The budgets were reviewed by Parliament on 23 April 1990. They also decided to re-organize the Olympics into a concern model, which saw both LOA and the Post-Olympics Use Committees becoming subsidiaries of LOOC, and the Post-Olympics Use Committees changing its name to Lillehammer Olympiavekst (LOV). Separate companies were established to construct the venues in Hamar and Gjøvik, owned by the respective municipalities. The municipal governments of Øyer and Ringebu each received a 24.5-percent stake in LOV. Lillehammer Municipality gained a 24.5-percent stake in the new holding company, Lillehammer '94 AS. Gerhard Heiberg, President of LOOC, was appointed chair of both LOV and LOA. LOV was given the responsibility for operating the venues after the Olympics.
LOOC and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development started negotiations concerning the fund in October 1990. The government increased the fund size to NOK 130 million in January 1991, as well as allocating NOK 70 of the reserve funding to post-Olympic use. Lillehammer Municipality stated that they wanted a disproportionate share of the funding, but this was rejected by Minister Kjell Borgen. The fund would be insufficient, which caused a conflict between the five municipalities. Gjøvik and Hamar chose not to take an ownership stake in LOV as they did not want a Lillehammer-based company to manage the towns' main venues. At the same time, Lillehammer Municipality did not want the two other towns to own part of LOV, as they hoped the entire fund would be used to finance the five venues in Lillehammer. Gjøvik and Hamar took steps to create their own joint venture to operate their three arenas, while Borgen stated that all the venues should be allocated to one company. Ringebu Mayor Erik Winther stated that he felt that his municipality had been tricked into joining LOV and that they were not allowed to participate as an equal partner.
