The USOC and Boston 2024 today withdrew their expected bid to host the '24 Games, dealing a body blow to the U.S. Olympic movement’s hopes of landing the Summer Games for the first time since '96. USOC CEO Scott Blackmun blamed the lack of public support, which has hovered well short of a majority in almost every opinion poll conducted. “Notwithstanding the promise of the original vision for the bid, and the soundness of the plan developed under Steve Pagliuca, we have not been able to get a majority of the citizens of Boston to support hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said.
Blackmun said the USOC would evaluate options for other cities and did not mention L.A. by name, but the two-time host compiled a preliminary bid in December and is the only second choice. "We understand the reality of the timeline that is before us,” Blackmun said. International Olympic experts say three major strategic questions must be answered: 1.) Can L.A. develop a credible bid within a greatly truncated timeframe? 2.) Can L.A. beat Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest and maybe Toronto? and 3.) Will the Boston faceplant hurt the USOC on the international stage?
Former IOC VP Dick Pound said the timing doesn’t matter. The IOC has set a Sept. 15 deadline for cities that intend to bid. "I don’t think the last-minute thing is of any consequence at all,” Pound said. “Los Angeles would have had its project and proposal all worked up at the time the USOC was considering the bid (in December).” Furthermore, he said, Boston has not actually submitted anything yet, so there is no sunk cost. "Until you actually put an applicant in, you haven’t actually put an applicant in."
The rapid unraveling of the Boston bid is the third time in a decade that the USOC has backed a major American city’s pursuit of the Summer Games unsuccessfully, and the prior losses (N.Y. ‘12 and Chicago ‘16) still reflect negatively on the committee. But Pound says L.A. can still help voters forget about Boston’s woes, if L.A. can move quickly. “On Boston, all of this will be long forgotten if the USOC has a strong candidate,” Pound said.
