United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum
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The United States Olympic Museum will honor the Olympic and Paralympic ideas, document the history of the United States Olympic and Paralympic participation, and celebrate the achievements of the United States Olympic and Paralympic competitors. |
A 60,000-square foot museum that will include a first-of-its-kind tribute to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team is scheduled to open July 30 in Colorado Springs after a three-year construction project.
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum will feature 12 galleries that include exhibits on athlete training, the Summer and Winter Games and the USOPC Hall of Fame. The project was conceived in 2012, as Olympic leaders looked to establish the first full-fledged Olympic museum in the United States. The Olympic Training Center, located a few miles from the museum in downtown Colorado Springs, draws more than 130,000 visitors a year but had limited exhibit space. At the groundbreaking for the museum three years ago, leaders said they were hoping to draw up to 350,000 a year, though the coronavirus pandemic will have an impact on attendance. The museum is putting safety precautions in place that will include a timed-ticketing program designed to limit the number of people in any exhibit at one time. The project is estimated to have cost around $91 million, which is about $15 million over the figure reported by The Associated Press at the groundbreaking in 2017. The increased cost is to cover state-of-the-art technology that will allow each visitor to receive a near-personalized experience. For example, visitors will be able to pick a favorite sport or athlete, and a chip embedded into their ticket will prompt specific content to come up at each exhibit. The museum will also have an interactive map that allows visitors to learn about the more than 12,000 athletes who have competed for Team USA. The effort to create the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum began in 2013 and after years of foundational work, construction on the project began in June of 2017. In 2014, the USOM signed a renewable agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee granting a 30-year relationship for the operation of the Museum. Established as the lead project in the City for Champions initiative, the U.S. Olympic Museum will:
The Museum has received financial commitments from many local, state and national bodies. In addition to private donors, three local banks teamed up to buy bonds issued by the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, secured by a state-approved tax increment arrangement, and $26.2 million has been contributed to support the construction of the Museum. The Museum will further establish Colorado Springs as Olympic City USA. It will become a premier cultural destination, welcoming people from near and far, and of all ages and backgrounds, to come together in the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. |
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Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority
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Phone: 719-385-5714
Mailing Address: PO Box 1575, MC 628 Colorado Springs CO 80901-1575 Street Address: 30 South Nevada Avenue Suite 604 Colorado Springs CO 80903 |
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