Boston is US pick to compete for 2024 Olympics

[alp227]

Source: Boston Globe

The United States Olympic Committee has chosen Boston to be its standard-bearer in a global competition to host the 2024 Olympic Games, putting its faith in an old city that is brand new to the Olympic movement.

The USOC announced Thursday after a meeting at Denver International Airport that it will back Boston’s Olympic bid over those from San Francisco, Washington, DC and two-time Olympic host, Los Angeles.

“We’re excited about our plans to submit a bid for the 2024 Games and feel we have an incredibly strong partner in Boston that will work with us to present a compelling bid,” said USOC Chairman Larry Probst, in a statement.

The decision followed “a spirited discussion and more than one round of voting” over several hours, the USOC said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/08/olympic-decision-boston-bid-could-come-thursday/6RHRYSTRGgsIlPImafWgRM/story.html

[Warren Stupidity]

1. That's unfortunate. The Olympics are routinely a disaster for the city that hosts them.

[Snow Leopard]

2. Totally agree

don't do it Boston!

[petronius]

3. Ha! Suckers!!

I mean... congratulations, Boston!


If it happens, I hope it goes well. Boston does have a lot of university infrastructure, which could be used. Hopefully any transportation or housing infrastructure is built with an eye toward long-term benefits, and the streets don't need to be literally paved with gold and washed down with champagne every time an IOC member travels by...

[2naSalit]

4. That's too bad, sorry to hear it. n/t

[Eugene]

5. :groan:

Seriously hoping some other country's city "wins" this godawful waste of resources.

[jmowreader]

6. If the US HAS to have a Summer Olympics, Boston is a good place for them

Except for maybe housing (and I would appreciate seeing some more hotels built in the Boston area - the ones they have are expensive) the infrastructure needed to support an Olympics is already there.

[PoliticAverse]

7. This is like winning Shirley Jackson's lottery. n/t

[VScott]

8. This will be a clusterfuck of epic proportions if Boston gets the final nod

This was all started by big developers looking to fatten their prestige and bank accounts.

One of the more high profile backers is Bob Kraft (owner of the NE Patriots and New England Revolution).

He sees it as an opportunity to finally get the metropolitan, waterfront soccer stadium hes
been clamoring for for ages once the games are over.

Fuck him... fuck all of them


[img][/img]

http://www.nobostonolympics.org/?utm_campaign=worldclass&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nobostonolympics

[PoliticAverse]

13. I wonder how long it would take for the "Big Stadium". n/t

[CentralMass]

22. You have nailed it. It will be as yoy say, an Epic Cluster Fck.

[Chasstev365]

9. Chicago would have be amazing for the Olympics!

While I wish Boston well, its just too small to hold an event as big as a summer Olympics!

[VScott]

10. Why do you hate Chicago?

Please... by all means let them (or anyplace else), have it if they really want it that
badly.

Just take it anyplace but Boston

[AngryAmish]

23. We dodged that bullet last time.

No reason to tempt fate.

[Non-Automatic_Belief]

11. Good choice

Great sports town.

[freefaller62]

12. $$$ for everybody but the Athletes

The Olympics are a rip-off for the athletes. They train for years and all the OTC honchos, National Governing Body honchos and hosts clean up on the profits, which ARE there. The athletes get little from the actual event, if anything.

It amazes he how the event loses money nearly every time it's held, but cities strive to get it inside their limits. You know there's money somewhere if they do that.

If held in your city, don't be a sucker and volunteer. The pins are worthless.

[Retrograde]

14. Good - it's not us

There were some people pushing the San Francisco area. While we could probably pull off something of that size, I don't think some of the IOC requirements - like special traffic lanes for officials - would have gone over well with the locals.

[NHDEMFORLIFE]

15. It will never happen

Boston is almost certain to lose out when the IOC makes its pick. And as someone who lives 35 miles from Boston, that would be great, because having it here would be a gigantic pain in the neck to deal with for months before, during and after.
The myriad venues would have to be spread out beyond the city. And I can't believe Robert Kraft would offer up Gillette Stadium in July or August, since the Patriots hold their training camp there and would need to have two home preseason games there in August. As for building a new 60,000-seat stadium for the Olympics in or around the city ... Well, the Patriots nearly moved to Connecticut because the city (rightfully) had no interest in ponying up millions to help build a waterfront stadium. And the Patriots mean a lot more to people around here than the Olympics.
The city and state have made it clear for decades that they would do some relatively peripheral infrastructure improvements to help pro sports teams build stadiums/arenas, but would never spend hundreds of millions on them.
Fenway Park wouldn't be good for much unless baseball is brought back into the Olympics. But, whether Fenway were used for something or not, the Red Sox would pretty much have to take about a three-week road trip, since adding 38,000 people to the Olympic mayhem on any given day would make it beyond ridiculous.
If the IOC picks Boston, those guys need to be drug tested.

[SoapBox]

16. I love the Olympics...

I try to focus on the athletes...especially those in the lesser competitions that train so hard and have to beg, hand out, for money.

I've mixed emotion about LA not getting it again...in 1984 the town cleared out and the traffic was great...but, if we got it again, like others said, it would now be a cluster fuck of pure greed...my first thought was that would have pushed us to build a monstrosity of a football stadium in already traffic clogged downtown.

Good luck Boston, against the rest of the world.

[Recursion]

17. Boston is well-known for completing big infrastructure projects on-time and under-budget

Errr...

[adirondacker]

18. Double the digits and double the units.

[Recursion]

19. And the North Station/South Station track still isn't done!

They -- I'm not kidding here -- claimed to have met the "substantive" goal of that because they installed some bikeshare racks.

[adirondacker]

20. The last time I was in Boston was about ten years ago. About a month after one of the tiles fell

from the roof of the tunnel onto a car. Between the traffic on the Mass pike and into and around the city I swore off returning by personal vehicle until the project was completed. I have no problem driving in large cities, but man that was some clusterfuck stressful driving. I may have to pay a visit this year, since I really liked the concept and would like to see it's progress.

That's amusing about the bikeshare racks being capable of meeting their track goals. Although, as a cyclist, I do highly appreciate them.

The small city I'm near presently could compete in the Americas worse highway planners competition. A lot of it has to do with corrupt business right aways and some payoff to the sign industry. There are stretches of road where I can count up to twenty signs within 200 feet. This is a LOW population and Low density area. I abhor and avoid it as much as possible.

[davidpdx]

21. Personally I dislike the Olympics in general

They seem to be a boondoggle for whomever hosts them. That being said, it will have been 28 years since the US last hosted the Summer Olympics.

[IronLionZion]

24. Whew! DC dodged a bullet on this one

there's not a snowball's chance in hell DC could have hosted an olympics. The logistics are mind boggling.

Good luck Boston! I don't know which city in the US would have the infrastructure and space to host this. Time to start building stuff, I guess.

[GreatGazoo]

25. Good luck Boston -- The fascist IOC is coming for your tax dollars if you "Win"

Get ready to pay $40 million to build a velodrome, etc. etc.

The Olympics should be held in the same city every 4 years -- maybe Athens should be permanent host.

[exboyfil]

27. Chicago went in pledging no public money

At the end of the day I am sure the taxpayers dodged a bullet. It is interesting how so many boards immediately light up being against hosting the Olympics. I wonder how many also watch them. I don't watch them, and I frankly don't want to spend the federal dollars on security to host them. I don't like in a place that would ever host the Olympics (thank goodness), but I do have sympathy for the taxpayers of the city ultimately chosen.

I would like to see some polling done of the citizens of Boston. Also what power do they have to stop public funding? In Minneapolis the taxpayers were just trampled over (like other cities) for the new football stadium. A bill which is going to come do when the politicians have moved onto their cushy corporate jobs.

[GreatGazoo]

31. I remember one of Romney's big resume items was allegedly his work with the IOC for SLC

After the prostitutes and insider real estate bribes were exposed Romney stepped in and had a very convenient lapse in his alleged disdain for government funding of private business. Romney is credited with:

successful lobbying for unprecedented levels of federal government support - over $1.3 billion, compared to less than half that amount for the 1996 Atlanta games - to pay for infrastructure improvements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Winter_Olympic_bid_scandal

But hey, if it wasn't a marriage of government and corporations (with a good dose of racism, eugenics and nationalism) it wouldn't be fascism.

[DinahMoeHum]

26. Poor bastards. Hope the Bostonians kill this.

Can't wait for WilliamPitt's reaction.

Support this group's efforts to derail Boston's getting picked by the IOC:

http://www.nobostonolympics.org/

http://www.thenation.com/blog/194529/dear-boston-its-protest-time-say-hell-no-olympic-games

[MannyGoldstein]

28. Oh. Goddess. No.

[Justice]

29. I am thrilled Boston was chosen

[Lurks Often]

30. If Boston wins, it'll have a negative effect on a large chunk of the Northeast

Figure anything within 1 1/2 - 2 hours drive of Boston is going to be affected, with the people who can't afford the closer hotels choosing to stay farther away from Boston, be to the west, south and southeast in RI & CT or to the north and northeast in NH and Maine.

I can see hotels and restaurants doing well, along with some of the service industries (taxi, car rental, gas stations, etc), but I wonder if the revenues from the Olympics will offset the loss of revenue from seasonal tourists who won't go anywhere near Boston during the Olympics and the build up for the Olympics.

[One_Life_To_Give]

33. Rt 128 isn't that big an area

That should be about 1-1/2 to 2 hrs drive during the Olympics.

The best part about the DNC was everyone left the city. Travel was like it was 3AM, no problemo. But I have spent way too much time averaging 20mph trying to get around the Boston area. No wonder they think Worcester is a really far drive.

[Lurks Often]

35. There are rumors that, if selected, Boston may not restrict things to just the Boston area

but spread things out.

Even if the Olympics themselves are in a small area, the hotels, etc are going to be packed in every direction, so I still think traffic within 2 hours of the Olympics is going to be horrendous.

[JDDavis]

32. Interesting so many posts here agree with me on this

Boston has many transportation problems that never get better. Whether it's the T, (subway, train, and bus system, ...constantly in the red, even with fare hikes this year), or the roads/bridges into and out of the city. A drive of 15 miles from the suburbs, north, south or west can take up to an hour at rush hour.
Although the city, including Cambridge, has tens of thousands of dormitory rooms at many colleges and universities, which could be used by athletes in summer, it is unclear if the colleges would want to offer them, deal with security etc.

The Boston folks who were "bidding" for this event in 2024 assured the city and state that the costs would be minimal, but I doubt it. Boston itself is only 1/9th the size of London, population wise, and 1/2 of London if you consider the suburban areas within 30-40 miles, including Cambridge, Newton, Brookline and two dozen other suburbs. Boston itself is an congested area of only 48 square miles, compared to London's area of 600 square miles. Building and expanding or widening roads is almost impossible in Boston. Boston's Logan International Airport is barely adequate to handle the daily demand it has, and has problems of accessibility by road and public transport even now.

I just don't think the general infrastructure of Boston is adequate or can be made adequate by 2024.

Let's move on to some other nation. Boston doesn't need this.

[Yavin4]

34. As a NYer....

I'm rooting hard for Boston to get the Olympics in 2024.