Boston sports legends Larry Bird, David Ortiz, and Jo Jo White have joined a new 30-member BOD that "will oversee the development of Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, broadening the voices supporting the bid and bringing a dash of star power to an effort trying to rebound from a rocky start," according to Mark Arsenault of the BOSTON GLOBE. The board "includes several local civic and business leaders, seven members" of the USOC, and former Olympians Meb Keflezighi and Michelle Kwan. The board "held its first meeting Wednesday morning, gathering privately at the Huntington Avenue YMCA." About two-thirds of the members "were in attendance, including Kwan and Keflezighi, but not Bird or Ortiz." Boston 2024 officials "had promised for weeks that they would revamp their leadership." The full board -- at 30 people, with further appointments expected -- "is composed mainly of bold-faced names already in leadership positions." It "will meet twice a year to vote on major policy initiatives." It "remains to be seen how involved the star athletes will be in the bid" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/23). In Boston, Donna Goodison notes the announcement came "amid an uphill public relations battle to garner support to bring the summer Olympic and Paralympic games to the Hub and pressure for chairman John Fish to take a lesser public role." Celtics co-Owner & Managing Partner Steve Pagliuca will serve as Vice Chair of the Boston 2024 BOD (BOSTON HERALD, 4/23).
