Good afternoon. We are breaking into programming to bring you this breaking news. We have reports from our Janet Wu sources saying that the US OC will be dropping Boston as the Olympic host city for 2024. Now, we are awaiting official press release from the US OC and from the Boston 2024 committee. But what we are hearing from Janet Wu and her sources is that the US OC has decided to pull Boston as its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Now this comes after Mayor Walsh this morning held an impromptu press conference saying that he was not going to sign off on any Olympic bid until he saw more details on the numbers. He wanted to ensure tax beers would not be on the hook for any cost overruns on the Olympics and left basically making sure that the insurance that we had would cover any cost overruns. So the mayor came out this morning saying he was not ready to back the bid. He and the governor had spoken previously. We know there was *** US OC believe it was *** phone meeting early this morning. So once again, Janet sources from our own WCVB. Janet Wu she is tweeting. You can get online all of the information from her sources that are saying the USOC is dropping. Boston. Boston will not be hosting the 2024 games. We have all of our resources on this story. Of course, we’ll have more information coming up at five o’clock on our WCVB app, Twitter, Facebook. You can find all the information there. We’ll see you soon.
How Boston’s bid for 2024 Summer Olympics flamed out in 2015
Bid announced in January, abandoned by July
What if the opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympic Games was a boat parade down the Charles River in Boston instead of the River Seine in Paris? For a few months in 2015, it looked possible, but the bid to bring the Olympic flame to Massachusetts burned out in spectacular fashion. Nearly a decade ago, the U.S. Olympic Committee selected Boston as the country’s candidate to host the 2024 Olympics, and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Boston would be a “strong” contender. By mid-summer of 2015, long before Paris, France, was selected to host the monthlong international competition, Boston’s bid was dropped. NewsCenter 5’s Janet Wu was the first to report the USOC and Boston had cut ties and decided to abandon the bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.The Boston bid started souring within days of its beginning in January, beset by poor communication and an active opposition group that kept public support low. Approval ratings that couldn’t sneak out of the 40s were the first sign of trouble for the bid.Then-Mayor Marty Walsh, who said “Boston was destined to win this,” when the bid was first announced, became the one to effectively end the process in July 2015. Walsh rebuked the idea of signing taxpayer guarantee if the event went over budget and closed the city’s Office of Olympic Planning.A proposed 2016 ballot referendum to block the use of taxpayer dollars was subsequently withdrawn, and then-Gov. Charlie Baker later confirmed that the bid posed a “significant risk to the taxpayers.”No governor. No mayor. No bid.Video below: Inside Boston’s original, unredacted Olympic bidBoston’s initial bid team talked a big game but made empty promises. Reports later showed that organizers underestimated the amount of opposition and downplayed the possibility of a statewide referendum on the games.Most of that bid team was replaced, though the new team, led by Boston 2024 chairman Steve Pagliuca, didn’t fare much better. Their $4.6 billion plan took a blowtorch to the popular idea of a compact, walkable Olympics, instead spreading venues around the metro area and the state. It pitched creating thousands of jobs, new housing, expanding the city’s tax base, improving the regional transportation system, creating an 83-acre “Midtown” neighborhood south of downtown at the site of the temporary, 69,000-seat Olympic stadium and developing 30 acres at Columbia Point — but many of the ideas were viewed with skepticism by both residents and leaders.For example, there was no firm plan for a media center, considered one of the biggest projects of any Olympic Games. Even though complex insurance policies were in place, claims that the public wouldn’t be on the hook for the multibillion-dollar sports event never gained traction.
What if the opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympic Games was a boat parade down the Charles River in Boston instead of the River Seine in Paris? For a few months in 2015, it looked possible, but the bid to bring the Olympic flame to Massachusetts burned out in spectacular fashion.
Nearly a decade ago, the U.S. Olympic Committee selected Boston as the country’s candidate to host the 2024 Olympics, and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Boston would be a “strong” contender.
By mid-summer of 2015, long before Paris, France, was selected to host the monthlong international competition, Boston’s bid was dropped.
NewsCenter 5’s Janet Wu was the first to report the USOC and Boston had cut ties and decided to abandon the bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
The Boston bid started souring within days of its beginning in January, beset by poor communication and an active opposition group that kept public support low. Approval ratings that couldn’t sneak out of the 40s were the first sign of trouble for the bid.
Then-Mayor Marty Walsh, who said “Boston was destined to win this,” when the bid was first announced, became the one to effectively end the process in July 2015. Walsh rebuked the idea of signing taxpayer guarantee if the event went over budget and closed the city’s Office of Olympic Planning.
A proposed 2016 ballot referendum to block the use of taxpayer dollars was subsequently withdrawn, and then-Gov. Charlie Baker later confirmed that the bid posed a “significant risk to the taxpayers.”
No governor. No mayor. No bid.
Video below: Inside Boston’s original, unredacted Olympic bid
Boston’s initial bid team talked a big game but made empty promises. Reports later showed that organizers underestimated the amount of opposition and downplayed the possibility of a statewide referendum on the games.
Most of that bid team was replaced, though the new team, led by Boston 2024 chairman Steve Pagliuca, didn’t fare much better. Their $4.6 billion plan took a blowtorch to the popular idea of a compact, walkable Olympics, instead spreading venues around the metro area and the state. It pitched creating thousands of jobs, new housing, expanding the city’s tax base, improving the regional transportation system, creating an 83-acre “Midtown” neighborhood south of downtown at the site of the temporary, 69,000-seat Olympic stadium and developing 30 acres at Columbia Point — but many of the ideas were viewed with skepticism by both residents and leaders.
For example, there was no firm plan for a media center, considered one of the biggest projects of any Olympic Games. Even though complex insurance policies were in place, claims that the public wouldn’t be on the hook for the multibillion-dollar sports event never gained traction.
