Boston 2024 officials have "roamed the state putting together" their new bid plan, but there is "one venue that no one seems to be vying for: the velodrome, a physically huge and enormously expensive indoor bicycling track that hosts one of America’s least popular Olympic sports," according to Michael Levenson of the BOSTON GLOBE. In an Olympic landscape "stalked by white elephants, the velodrome just might be the lead pachyderm, skewered by critics as the ultimate symbol of the waste and excess required to host the Games." Boston 2024’s first choice for its velodrome, Assembly Square in Somerville, was rejected by the city’s mayor, who said venues with no long-term benefit “won’t cut it” in his community. The group’s second choice, Suffolk Downs in East Boston, "was shot down by the track’s operator." Olympic organizers acknowledge that the velodrome conundrum "is one question that may be left unanswered." Worried about leaving behind an unwanted arena, the organizers are now "floating the idea of making it a temporary venue that could be dismantled or scaled down into a field house after the Games." Whichever path they pursue, the "hulking venue is likely to be costly." London spent $140M "to build a 6,000-seat velodrome" for the '12 Games. Boston’s initial bid in January "proposed a 5,000-seat velodrome on 12 acres but did not give a price tag" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/29).
SHIPPING UP TO L.A.? In L.A., David Wharton noted USOC BOD members this week "will meet in Northern California," and while they will "probably not take decisive action now, there is increasing pressure to abandon the Boston bid." Sources said that L.A. "could be an easy solution" (L.A. TIMES, 6/28). Meanwhile, in Boston, Adrian Walker writes No Boston Olympics, "once blithely dismissed [as] a bunch of disaffected gadflies," has instead "proved to be a thoughtful opposition force." It has "continued to press the case that Boston doesn’t need an Olympics to be a world-class city, and that the energy and money devoted to that cause could be put to better use elsewhere." No Boston Olympics co-Chair Chris Dempsey said, "We’ve got a beautiful city with a phenomenal skyline, and the image of a new stadium with our skyline in the background is a compelling one. But it’s not the kind of thing that convinces a CEO to invest in your state. It’s not the kind of thing that keeps young people here" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/29).
