The committee exploring whether Boston could host the '24 Games "will not estimate what it would cost when it submits its report to legislators later this month after it heard the price tag in London ballooned by '300 percent' from the time the city bid for the 2012 Games until it held closing ceremonies," according to Matt Stout of the BOSTON HERALD. Committee Chair John Fish said, "We will not include cost estimates in our submission to the Legislature on March 1. My sense is that we will put forth another committee that will study this if we get positive feedback.” PwC Northeast Managing Partner Barry Nearhos told committee members that "putting a price tag on hosting the 2024 Games is difficult more than a decade out" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/12). In Boston, Michael Levenson notes though the "threat of cost overruns concerned some members of the commission, it did not dampen the enthusiasm" of Fish. He said that he is "bullish about the potential benefits of hosting the Olympics, if Boston is ultimately selected" in '17. Fish at the commission meeting "mused about using a public-private partnership to build an Olympic village, which he said could then be turned into housing for middle-income workers after the Games end." He also indicated that facilities at the "100 colleges and universities in the area could be upgraded to host athletes and events." Fish said that "despite reports of dilapidated hotel rooms and crackdowns on protesters, he has been encouraged by what he has heard of the experience in Sochi." Fish: “If you put politics aside, I think Russia has done a very commendable job organizing the Olympics and managing the process to date. I realize everything to date has not gone perfectly but, not being there myself, it’s very hard to ascertain what’s real, and what’s fiction" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/12).
