Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics
The Boston 2024 Partnership was a short-lived, privately funded bid to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The official proposal was submitted on September 12, 2014. On January 8, 2015, the United States Olympic Committee chose Boston to compete with candidates around the world, and the International Olympic Committee would select the host city in 2017.
Boston beat out Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC for the official US bid. Boston was the only first-time bidder in the group. Polls conducted in early 2015 indicated declining support in the Boston area for hosting the Olympics. On July 27, 2015, the city and the USOC mutually agreed to terminate Boston's bid to host the Games.
Bid history
In 2013, Boston was one of 35 cities invited by the USOC to explore the possibility of submitting a bid to host the 2024 Olympics. The Massachusetts State Senate passed a bill in July to create a feasibility commission to study this possibility. After then passing through the House of Representatives and receiving the signature of Governor Deval Patrick, the Feasibility Commission was formed that fall, with appointees from Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, Jr., and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. The Feasibility Commission was staffed with corporate executives and political officials or their aides.The commission released its final report on February 27, 2014, which identified possible venues, legacy opportunities, and security risks for the Games.
In January 2014, the leaders of the feasibility commission created the non-profit Boston 2024 Partnership. Suffolk Construction Company CEO John Fish, the chairman of the feasibility commission, became the treasurer, clerk, and director of Boston 2024. Massachusetts Competitive Partnership CEO Daniel O’Connell, another appointee from the feasibility commission, became the president. New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, Boston Celtics co-owner and Bain Capital executive Stephen Pagliuca, and Gloria Cordes Larson of Bentley were listed as directors. The Boston 2024 Partnership then put together an executive committee of local business leaders, university presidents, and athletes to develop the bid.
On June 13, 2014, Boston made the USOC's shortlist for the 2024 Games.
The bid was submitted to the USOC on December 1, 2014, but, at that point, there had been no open public meetings about the bid, nor had the bid been released to the public—points of continuing controversy that factored into the bid's ultimate demise.
On December 16, 2014, Mayor Marty Walsh joined the Boston 2024 Partnership to present before the USOC.
On January 8, 2015, the USOC selected Boston as its bidding city for the 2024 Olympic Games. To avoid criticisms of conflicts of interest, Boston 2024 chairman John Fish recused himself and Suffolk Construction Company from any Olympic-related bidding.
On January 21, 2015, Boston 2024 released a redacted version of the bid they submitted to the USOC. The full, unredacted version of the bid was not released until July 24, 2015, after the Boston City Council threatened to issue a subpoena to obtain them. The redactions included the mention of a $500 million shortfall, Boston 2024's willingness to get laws changed to suit the Olympics, and the Partnership's downplaying of Olympic opposition and the possibility of a voter referendum.
On January 23, 2015, former MassDOT Secretary Richard A. Davey was appointed CEO of the Boston 2024 Partnership, replacing Dan O'Connell, who remained a part of the executive committee.
On March 9, 2015, Boston 2024 released salary information for its staff as well as the details for how much it was paying various consultants. Boston 2024 was paying $124,000 a month to consulting firms, excluding the $7,500 a week that former Governor Deval Patrick was receiving as a bid ambassador.
On April 22, 2015, Boston 2024 announced a new 30-member board of directors, including celebrity athletes like Larry Bird, Jo Jo White, and Michelle Kwan, as well as members of the USOC.
On May 21, 2015, Stephen Pagliuca replaced John Fish as chairman of the Boston 2024 Partnership.
On June 15, 2015, Boston 2024 added 17 new members to its board of directors, including Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn.
Funding
Acknowledging the overspending at past Olympics like publicly funded Beijing and Sochi, the Boston 2024 Partnership announced that it would rely on private funds, existing facilities and temporary venues, and transportation projects that had previously received approval.In the budget released in January 2015, Boston 2024 included an operating budget of $4.7 billion, a development budget of $3.4 billion, and an infrastructure budget of $5.2 billion. Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist at Smith College criticized these budget numbers for numerous omissions and overly optimistic assumptions.
In May, a public records request on an economic impact assessment of the bid commissioned by the Boston Foundation found that Boston 2024 planned to use tax increment financing for construction of the Olympic stadium, contradicting the group's earlier statements that no public funds would be used.
In mid-July 2015, the Boston Globe reported that Boston 2024 was experiencing difficulties in fundraising.
Potential venues
The original bid leaned on the use of existing facilities at Boston-area universities as well as venues including Gillette Stadium and TD Garden. However, some events were pegged for other parts of the state, including rowing in the Merrimack River in Lowell.Before Boston could host the Olympic Games, several facilities would need to be built: a temporary stadium to seat 60,000 people, an Olympic village that spans 100 acres, a velodrome, and an aquatics center.
| Type | Venue | Location | Activities |
| E | Minute Man Sportsmen's Club | Billerica | Shooting |
| E | Agganis Arena | Boston | Badminton |
| E | Boston Convention Center | Boston | Judo, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, wrestling |
| E | Gillette Stadium | Foxborough | Soccer, rugby sevens |
| E | Harvard Stadium | Boston | Field hockey |
| E | TD Garden | Boston | Basketball, gymnastics |
| E | Tsongas Center | Lowell | Boxing |
| T | Assembly Square | Somerville | Velodrome |
| T | Beacon Park Yard | Boston | Aquatics, tennis |
| T | Boston Common | Boston | Beach volleyball |
| T | Connecticut River, Deerfield River | Deerfield and Westfield | Canoe, kayak |
| T | Franklin Park | Boston | Equestrian, modern pentathlon |
| T | Killian Court | Cambridge | Archery |
| T | Olympic Stadium | Boston | Multi-sport |
| T | Nashoba Valley Ski Area | Westford | Mountain biking |
| P | Media Center | Boston Convention Center | Press and media reporting |
| T | Merrimack River | Lowell | Rowing |
| T/P | Olympic Village | Boston | Athlete housing |
Type key: E = existing facility, P = new, permanent, T = new, temporary
From the start, Boston 2024's venue selection was dogged by missteps. When the redacted bid book was released in January, property owners in and around designated venues, particularly Widett Circle and Columbia Point alleged that they had never been contacted directly by Boston 2024. In March, Friends of the Public Garden released a formal statement opposing the siting of beach volleyball in Boston Common. The Franklin Park Coalition criticized Boston 2024 for not providing detailed information about their plans for the park.
On June 29, 2015, Boston 2024 released a revised Bid 2.0, with new cost estimates, some new venue locations, and plans for post-Olympic development in Widett Circle and Columbia Point. Notable venue changes included moving beach volleyball to Squantum Point Park and tennis to Harambee Park. Sailing was moved to New Bedford and shooting to Billerica. Locations for eight of the 33 venues, including big-ticket items like the velodrome, the aquatics center, and the media center, were left unidentified. The reception from residents near Squantum Point Park was mixed to negative at a community meeting in early July.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Senate President Stan Rosenberg, and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo commissioned consulting firm the Brattle Group to conduct a study of Bid 2.0, to be capped at $250,000. On August 18, 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker released the results of the study, which found that Boston 2024 Partnership may have underestimated costs by up to $3 billion. The firm found that some of the biggest unaccounted for costs would come from contingency funds and incentives needed to entice developers to bid on the massive construction projects at Widett Circle and Columbia Point. The Brattle Group report estimated those combined costs could range up to $1 billion.
Transportation improvements
The Boston bid relied on several transportation system improvements, most already approved by the state legislature but not yet fully funded, These included:- Expansion of South Station, adding 6 or 7 new platforms on land freed up by relocating the adjacent Post Office facility
- A new West Station on the Framingham Worcester commuter rail line to be constructed on the Beacon Park Yard property, coordinated with reconfiguration of the Massachusetts Turnpike Allston toll barrier plaza.
- Pedestrian improvements at the JFK/UMass Red Line station
- Purchase of diesel multiple unit rail cars for the proposed Indigo Lines, which would shuttle visitors from hotels in Back Bay to the Boston Convention Center venue
- A bicycle path between the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Village