DCU Center proposed as 2024 Olympic venue

Worcester has officially entered the 2024 Boston Olympic debate with handball competition slated to take place at the DCU Center if Boston is selected as the host city for the 2024 Games, Boston 2024 announced Wednesday.

The DCU Center was among three existing venues – including the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell and the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center – that were announced as potential Olympic locations on Wednesday.

“Our region is already home to many world-class venues, including several that strategically align with our vision for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Boston,” Boston 2024 Partnership CEO Rich Davey said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re fortunate to tap into these well managed and easy-to-access facilities to showcase the best of our region in our opportunity to host the best sporting events in the world.”

To host Olympic and Paralympic events, all venues must meet a comprehensive set of criteria, according to Boston 2024, including meeting the technical requirements outlined by each sport’s National Governing Body and International Federation. This had been an issue with the push to get Olympic rowing on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, as the course does not currently meet Olympic requirements, and also lacks provisions for spectator seating.

The group No Boston Olympics said that the proposed use of these three existing venues still does not address the larger issues of building new venues in Boston to allow for the Olympics.

"The boosters' imprudent plan still calls for building the three most expensive Olympic venues from scratch. Boston is a great sports town, but taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for cost overruns for the 60,000-seat stadium, aquatics center, and velodrome that Boston 2024 needs to construct," the group said in a statement.

No Boston Olympics said London organizers spent $1.6 billion on those three facilities when the city hosted the summer games in 2012.

The Olympic Ballot Coalition is spearheading an effort to put a Olympics referendum on the 2016 ballot. The coalition is led by 2014 gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk who said he encourages private-sector support from universities and other institutions to reduce the risk of spending tax dollars to support Olympics infrastructure.

"But putting smaller events at these universities appears to be more window dressing from Boston 2024. Our effort is to trust but verify that tax dollars are not used," he said in a statement.

Note: Updates were made to this article to more accurately reflect the affiliation of Evan Falchuk.

Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.