Briefing: Olympics and politics
Now that the U.S. Olympic Committee has endorsed Boston's bid to host the 2024 Summer Games, strap yourself in for two years of jockeying and posturing before the International Olympic Committee selects the host city. The result will be either euphoria coupled with the angst of facing seven years of preparation, or disappointment at what might have been: two weeks on the world stage and a potentially longer-lasting economic windfall.
But the next two years could pose an even tougher hurdle for the Boston organizers than the training and preparation for the thousands of the world's best athletes who face off in summer every four years.
What are the potential roadblocks to a Boston Olympics?
Let's put them in three categories: logistical, fiscal and political.
What are the potential logistical roadblocks?
The Boston organizers, in their bid for the city to become the U.S. representative, suggested that nearly all events can be held inside the Route 128 belt. Previous Games — including London's in 2012 — held events well beyond their core cities and spread the economic benefits. And two of the state's top political leaders — Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and House Speaker Robert DeLeo — have argued for including the rest of the Bay State.
What about the fiscal roadblocks?
Boston 2024, the nonprofit that has been backing the city's bid, said hosting the Games would cost $4.7 billion, and would be funded by ticket sales, sponsorships and broadcast revenues. But Boston 2024 President Dan O'Connell said the state could fund “infrastructure investments” while federal taxpayers would foot security costs. However, a group that has organized to oppose the Boston bid has pegged the total Olympics budget at $14.3 billion. “The thing that concerns me the most is the finances,” said State Rep. Michael Moran, D-Brighton.
If there is public investment, it “must not come at the expense of the rest of Massachusetts,” Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President Timothy Murray said in a statement right after Boston won the U.S. bid. “It is critical to Central Massachusetts and the other regional economies across the commonwealth that strategic state investments continue.”
And the political roadblocks?
Those may be in the “construction” phase. The opposition group, No Boston Olympics, is building its argument around finances. Also, the head of the new United Independent Party, 2014 gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk, is working on a binding statewide referendum that would put the decision of whether Boston should host the 2024 Games into the hands of the commonwealth's voters.
(Material from State House News Service was used in this report.)
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