Boston out of running for 2024 Summer Olympic Games bid 
The city of Boston is no longer a candidate to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
Boston had been the United States’ selection in the ongoing bidding process for the 2024 Summer Olympics, but on Monday, Boston’s mayor threw the brakes on the city’s bid plans. Soon afterward, the United States Olympic Committee announced it is ending its bid to bring the Games to the city.
Boston mayor Marty Walsh had said he cannot automatically commit to signing the host city bid should Boston win the right to host the Games. Walsh expressed concern about a provision which requires the host city to cover any cost overruns, a requirement which could prove financially burdensome to Boston.
“I cannot commit to putting the taxpayers at risk,” Walsh said in a Monday morning press conference. While Boston’s Olympic organizing group had pledged an insurance policy would cover cost overruns, Walsh said his office has been unable to conclude whether such a policy would be feasible and would sufficiently protect the city.
Walsh’s concern was not unfounded. Costs for Olympics have spiraled in recent years, with both Beijing ($43 billion, 2008) and Sochi ($51 billion, 2014) compiling astronomical preparatory costs. While Boston might not incur such significant costs because of existing facilities (London’s 2012 Games cost “only” $14 billion), the International Olympic Committee’s expectation that a host city shoulders all the costs is not an acceptable one to most 21st-century cities. Four of the six cities have dropped out of the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games, with only Kazakhstan and China still making bids.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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