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Pagliuca In, Fish Out As Boston '24 Chair, With Lucchino, Connors Also Added To Committee

Boston '24 has named Celtics co-Owner & Managing Partner Steve Pagliuca its new Chair, replacing Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish as leader of the troubled Olympics bid committee. Also Thursday, the committee added Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino and Hill Holliday Founding Partner Jack Connors as special advisors, and tapped Northeastern Univ. AD Peter Roby as Vice Chair. The changes come as the bid faces intense local pressure to elaborate on venue real estate plans and financial projections, along with expectations from the USOC and IOC to gain more public support. Pagliuca steps into an urgent situation. The coalition has promised a more detailed version of its widely criticized initial proposals, considered merely a “proof of concept,” by late June. September is the deadline for the USOC to formally nominate Boston as its bid city; until then, the USOC could still choose another city, though its leadership has said it remains committed to Boston. Serie A club AS Roma Chief Commercial Officer Sean Barror, who worked for Pagliuca as a marketing exec with the Celtics, called him “uniquely qualified” to lead a bid. Barror: "He’s a tremendous problem solver. Steve’s business is working with large corporations and really kind of fixing them. But he also has an understanding of sports and politics." Pagliuca will take the unpaid position on a part-time basis, and will keep his jobs with the Celtics and at Bain Capital, a Boston '24 official said. Fish, who left the spotlight as a figurehead of the Olympics push weeks before officially stepping down, will remain on as Vice Chair and a member of the Exec Committee. Prior to Thursday, Pagliuca had served as co-chair of Boston's fundraising and finance advisory committee. No Boston Olympics, the organization leading the opposition, issued a statement dismissing the leadership change as window dressing. "The only thing that the initial phase of this process proved is that the numbers don’t work, and taxpayers are going to be left on the hook,” said No Boston Olympics co-Chair Chris Dempsey. But Celtics President Rich Gotham predicted Pagliuca will help Boston most with his all-business approach to major deals and projects. "He's not a ‘spin' guy," Gotham said. "He's fact-based in his approach to things, which I think will help Boston 2024 submit a practical and thoughtful bid for the games that people can get behind" (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).

PAGLIUCA'S PLAN: Pagliuca said that he is "banking on the release of a detailed plan later this month, his remade team of top advisers and even help from a one-time ... Olympic rival" in L.A. to "win a skeptical public and wary pols over to the beleaguered Olympic bid." Pagliuca: "I honestly believe America has the best chance of winning the bid if it’s for Boston. We just need to show those plans out there, show the benefits and show the risks. ... The onus is on us to outline all of that in detail." He added, "The public confidence will grow, actually, in the next 25 to 30 days after getting that detailed framework out there" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/22). In Boston, Michael Levenson writes Pagliuca in taking over Boston’s embattled bid "must deliver a credible financial and venue plan and convince a skeptical public that the Games are in the city’s long-term interest and will not drain the public treasury." Friends of his said that he "will draw on the financial savvy that earned him a fortune at Bain Capital." Fixing Boston '24 "will require selling voters on the promise that they will not have to pay to build and run the world's largest sporting event." That task "is more akin to a political campaign than a business deal, and Pagliuca’s one foray into politics" -- in '09 with the Democratic Senate primary -- "was not a rousing success." Former colleagues said that Pagliuca "could help Boston’s bid by ruthlessly scrutinizing its finances, personnel, and operations as if he were a Bain Capital executive taking over a troubled company" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/22).

MEETING WITH IOC EXECS: The USOC has confirmed Pagliuca will join a U.S. delegation to IOC HQ in Switzerland next week to discuss Boston’s troubled bid. The meeting is part of the new “invitation-phase” process under the IOC’s Agenda 2020, which encourages more early-stage collaboration with potential Olympic bidders. While the IOC is conducting these meetings with all potential bid cities, Boston’s trip will come just days after Pagliuca takes over. USOC Chair Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun will attend, along with Chief Bid Officer Chris Sullivan and possibly USOC and IOC BOD member Angela Ruggiero. USOC Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer Patrick Sandusky also will attend. Sandusky said, "We’re excited about this important next step in our collective efforts to bring the Games to the U.S." Sandusky declined to answer questions about the details of the meeting. Also joining the trip are Boston 2024 CEO Richard Davey, Vice Chair Roger Crandall and COO Erin Murphy (Fischer).

PREACHING PATIENCE
: In Boston, Shirley Leung in a letter to the USOC writes, "You may think Bostonians don’t want to host the Olympics, but then you don’t know Boston. ... Don’t be scared. We just need this moment. This is how we operate around here. When we calm down, we get down to business, but always on our terms, never yours. ... It takes time for Bostonians to come around on anything. ... Our Olympic naysaying can be heard 'round the world, but it can only make the Boston bid better. We like to put people and their ideas through the wringer. ... Stick with us, USOC. I know we’re trying your patience. But it’ll all come together. It always does" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/22).

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