Top USOC officials are satisfied with the Boston 2024 committee’s changes made so far to its planned bid and appear less likely to short-circuit the effort at a board meeting next week. USOC Chair Larry Probst, CEO Scott Blackmun, Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer Patrick Sandusky and Chief Bid & Protocol Officer Christopher Sullivan met with Boston bid officials and Mayor Marty Walsh yesterday for an update. They left pleased, according to a source. “People came out of these meetings, said this is absolutely on track, and this is very logical, and we like what we’re seeing and to keep going,” the source said. Boston 2024 has promised to share wholesale revisions to its widely panned first bid document by June 30, and gradually has been unveiling new venue plans for various sports throughout much of June. However, revised details for major venues like the Olympic Stadium and the Athletes’ Village have not been publicly released yet, nor have updated budget projections. Discussions about the budget and major venue plans consumed much of the meetings, the source said. Boston 2024 officials have promised to run a privately funded Games, at least in the operational budget, with TV rights and sponsorship covering the production costs. However, big questions remain about the government’s role in covering security costs and needed infrastructure improvements. Despite the USOC’s general satisfaction, the issue of public opinion still looms large. Polls show state and city of Boston support for the bid below 50%, and some positive momentum on that front is necessary for the USOC to advance Boston to the international stage. Both the USOC and Boston 2024 are counting on poll numbers to improve after the revisions are released in the coming days. The USOC board meets Tuesday, and some have speculated that the committee would take that opportunity to pull Boston’s bid or possibly ask two-time host L.A. to replace Boston. The committee has until Sept. 15 to decide whether to submit Boston to the IOC. A final vote from the IOC will come in ‘17 (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).
THE OLD COLLEGE TRY: In Boston, Arsenault & Levenson report seven Olympic and Paralympic events "would be divided" among Boston College, Harvard Univ. and Northeastern Univ. should Boston host the '24 Games. The committee also "has confirmed events" at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell and the DCU Center in Worcester. Boston 2024 said that the venues proposed yesterday "take maximum advantage of existing facilities, to control costs" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/25).
HERSH PENALTY: In Chicago, Philip Hersh writes if the USOC "has come to its senses, its board of directors will wisely choose at a regularly scheduled meeting to pull a doomed Boston bid that has been a disaster from the start." If not, the USOC "risks wasting a lot of its staff’s time and energy, which could be better spent on helping" U.S. athletes prepare. Boston's bid "already has made a mockery of its stated philosophy: a compact games." At the rate the bid committee has changed plans over the last two weeks, it "won’t be long before the only Massachusetts city without a proposed Olympic venue will be Boston" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/25).
