The USOC's top execs "expressed full confidence Friday in the team overseeing Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Games, despite a drop in poll numbers and recent questions about the bid committee’s public relations strategy," according to Mark Arsenault of the BOSTON GLOBE. USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said that "once the local bid committee, Boston 2024, demonstrates 'beyond a doubt' that its plans are financially viable, 'I think you’ll see a lot of these legitimate concerns that people are expressing begin to take on a new direction.'" Arsenault noted leaders of the local bid committee, including Chair John Fish, "gave the USOC a presentation on the progress of Boston’s Olympic bid Friday at a USOC meeting" in DC. Boston '24 "has had a bumpy start." USOC Chair Larry Probst said that the committee "asked Boston 2024 leaders about 'the polling results, we asked about the narrative going forward, we asked about the ... communication strategy going forward.'" He added, "Do we wish that the approval ratings were higher than 44 percent? Absolutely we do. But candidly, it’s much more important those numbers be high two-and-a-half years from now than be high now. There is plenty of time to get this bid where it needs to be." Blackmun said that people who are "questioning the bid plans ... 'are asking the right questions.'" He added, "This is exactly the point of the process that we should be in" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/14). In Boston, Owen Boss noted questions about "dwindling public support, the sky-high salaries paid to the Boston 2024 staff and consultants and a possible referendum on holding the games have filled the headlines ever since Boston was awarded the American bid in January" (BOSTON HERALD, 3/14).
