Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino is "engaged in discussions with people connected to Boston’s Olympic effort to potentially take a senior role" with Boston 2024, according to sources cited in a front-page piece by Mark Arsenault of the BOSTON GLOBE. That move "would signal a dramatic reboot for an Olympic campaign that got off to a difficult start." Sources said that Lucchino "already has spoken directly" with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Boston 2024 Chair John Fish. Any possible move "would still need to be vetted with prominent backers of the effort to bring" the '24 Games to Boston, as well as with the USOC. Lucchino on Thursday evening said that he has spoken with "key players" about "potentially joining the effort in a 'meaningful role.'" However, he indicated that it is "too soon to say what, if anything, will come of the talks, or what position he could ultimately accept." Arsenault reports it is "unclear" what Lucchino's role with the Red Sox would be if he joins Boston 2024. Bringing Lucchino on board "could indicate a substantial leap from the recent incremental change" with the bid group, as well as an acknowledgment that the bid leaders "believe they need to do something bold." Lucchino would also "bring to the bid the intangible of a big name on the Boston sports scene." His presence "could lend the bid new gravitas and provide a public face with a proven legacy at the top levels of professional sports" (
BOSTON GLOBE, 4/24).
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR: The Boston bid group on Wednesday announced a new 30-member BOD that includes several local sports legends, such as Larry Bird, Jo Jo White, David Ortiz and Michelle Kwan. In Boston, Eric Wilbur writes it is too soon "to determine how Boston 2024’s new flavor will succeed in winning over the public," but it initially appears to be "little more than window dressing in order to sway the dubious in their favor." It is "not unusual to have familiar faces like Bird, Ortiz, White and even Kwan at the forefront of an Olympic movement." However, only White lives "anywhere near Boston on a full-time basis." Wilbur: "Why not Bobby Orr? Mike Eruzione? Nancy Kerrigan? At least those are Hall of Famers or former Olympians who either grew up in the area or, in the case of Orr, have called it home since retirement. In other words, taxpayers. Or, at the very least, folks who would have to live in the development hell that a pre-Olympics Boston would resemble in its preparation" (BOSTON.com, 4/24).
