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Boston was selected on Thursday as the American candidate
city that will bid to host the 2024 Olympics, taking the first
strides in a grueling marathon to bring the Summer Games back to
the United States for the first time since 1996.
Boston, which has never hosted an Olympics, was unveiled as the
surprise pick over two-time host Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Washington following the United States Olympic Committee's
(USOC) board meeting in Colorado.
The group that had been advocating for Boston has suggested that
the large stadiums around the city, including the homes of the
New England Patriots football team and Boston Red Sox baseball
team could play a role in housing the games.
The USOC's decision was greeted mainly with enthusiasm from
Boston residents and politicians, including failed 2012
presidential candidate and former governor Mitt Romney, who
played a key role in organizing the 2002 Salt Lake City
Olympics.
"It’s a very good thing. Whether they are ultimately successful
or not, it’s going to allow the state to have a number of
conversations about infrastructure, about planning and security
that will outlive any Olympic bid," said Peter Ubertaccio,
chairman of the political science department at Stonehill
College in Easton, south of Boston.
Chris Carpentier, a software developer, said that while he was
excited about the possibility of Boston hosting the Olympic
Games, he was also worried about the potential cost to
taxpayers. "The concerns are, will the city and state get their
money’s worth, and what gets left behind?" he said.
The Russian city of Sochi spent a staggering $51 billion in
staging last year's Winter Olympics, with the future of many of
the venues in doubt.
Boston is no stranger to expensive infrastructure programs given
the city's Big Dig project, a state initiative from the 1980s to
bury a raised highway that for years had split the city in two
and that was famous for its huge costs.
Boston will compete against Rome and Germany, which has
announced that it will bid through Berlin or Hamburg, and a
number of other potential bidders around the globe.
"If we won this," said Glenn Wood, a Boston attorney, "we’d be
pumped."
(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis, Scott Malone, and Ross Kerber;
Editing by Ken Wills)
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