It’s still a long shot, but Bostonians supporting the city’s summer 2024 Olympic bid are breathing a little easier today, after receiving some good news from Olympics officials meeting in Redwood City, California.
US Olympic Committee Chairman Larry Probst met with Boston 2024 Chairman Steve Pagliuca and others yesterday and afterward told a crowd of reporters that Boston’s new 2.0 plan unveiled Monday is progressing in the right direction, but they’d like to see more public support for the plan.
Boston’s bid to host the Olympics has met with active opposition reflected in recent polls showing only about 40 percent in favor. The USOC says a more supportive percentage should be closer to 60 percent. A referendum on the issue is set for next year in Massachusetts.
Andrew Zimbalist, Smith College Professor, economistand author of the book, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and World Cup tells WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay, “Every single Olympics since 1960 has had a cost overrun. The summer Olympics since 1976, has had an average cost overrun of 3.5 two times. Boston’s numbers right now, if they were true, would be an acceptable number, but if you apply that 3.5 number to them, they become unacceptable.”
USOC Olympic officials say told reporters they’re not abandoning Boston just yet as a host, nor are they’re looking at a replacement bid city to submit to the IOC.
As an economic, the big comes down to numbers and Zimbalist says…. there’s nothing in the new 2.0 plan released by 2024 committee gives assurance that state monies won’t be infused.
‘There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors regarding bond surety and cost overruns.”
Zimbalist says one example is the Columbia point plan. He says, “If you read the financing liability part of the plan….UMass will pay for some of it along with a private developer. And he says, “If the University of Massachusetts pays for some of the Olympic village development, they’re going to have more rapid increases in tuition, even longer freezes on faculty salaries.”
Critics of the Boston Games suggest hosting the Olympics will affect operations of state government.
Zimbalist says the 1984 Los Angeles games were the the last truly successful Olympic games in the United States in terms of financing.
He says, “Peter Ueberroth, the former Commissioner of Baseball, ran the games and refused to take corporate money, because it meant corporations wouldn’t be giving to the non-profits in the Los Angeles areas, and he adds, “ doing so cannibalizes the money to the non-profits.”
To listen to the entire interview with Economist Andrew Zimbalist and WGBH’s Bob Seay click on the audio link above.
