Red Sox are willing to accommodate Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid
The US Olympic Committee recently announced it has selected Boston for their 2024 Olympic bid, which is a major story for the entire New England region since it was chosen over major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC. However, to win the bid that truly counts, it will require major sacrifices from Boston area residents, businesses and especially its local sports franchises.
According to multiple reports this week, the city and the committee won’t have to spend a minute worrying about the Red Sox cooperation. Team COO Sam Kennedy was immediately on record with his support for the bid.
“I speak for myself in being very supportive for Boston 2024,” he told MassLive.com Monday. “I hope baseball gets back into the Olympics and there would be a role for Fenway Park to play. It’s obviously too early to tell but we stand ready to participate if we get called upon.”
According to the Boston Herald, owner John Henry supports the bid as well and is more than willing to do his part to accommodate it, even agreeing to send the team on an extended road trip so that Fenway Park will be available for use leading up to and during the 16-day event.
“We saw John Henry. He agreed to send the team on a long road trip in summer 2024,” said Dan O’Connell, president of the organization planning the logistics of the Summer Games. “We would love to see the Dominican Republic play Venezuela (at Fenway). That’s probably who the two finalists would be.”
That’s a bold prediction, mainly because we all know that both baseball and softball are not currently among the active summer Olympic sports. With that in mind though, the IOC is considering their reinstatement for the 2020 games in Tokyo. If baseball fans get what they want and the circumstances allow it, could you think of a better place to play a gold-medal game than Fenway?
It’s a fun thought, but even if baseball isn’t back, Fenway could still host an outdoor event such as archery or be of use in another capacity.
As for Henry’s willingness to pack up and leave town for a few weeks, it would be no small sacrifice in the middle of a long season. When the city of Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Braves were on the road for 17 games over 21 days. Though the Braves survived it, that’s a grind that could be difficult to recover from. With that said, being in town during the Olympics isn’t a realistic option either, so this is definitely a situation where the Red Sox are putting the city’s best interests first.
For now, though, it’s a waiting game for everybody. The city of Boston won’t learn if it’s been chosen as an IOC candidate city until April or May of 2016, and the final decision isn’t slated until late 2017.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
