The Olympics are coming to the United States… possibly. The Boston 2024 Partnership has submitted a bid to be the hosts of the 2024 summer Olympics and Paralympics. They made it past the first round of eliminations, and have been named the one American city still in the running to host, beating out bids from cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. The International Olympic Committee is set to announce the winning host of the Olympics in 2017, but Boston and Massachusetts as a whole have already started making plans for their possible Olympic debut.
Boston is a strong contender as a location for the Olympics to take place because it is such an enlivened city. Boston is home to universities, major sports teams and a large cultural population. In their push to host the Olympics in Boston, The Boston 2024 Partnership has suggested that hosting the games will bring jobs, tourism and infrastructure improvements to the city and the state as a whole.
The most recent Olympic games have been unusually expensive, so in Boston’s bid plan they argued they would host a cost effective event. The bid committee also suggested that hosting the games would cause an economic boom throughout all of Massachusetts and the Northern United States.
Multiple venues in Boston have already been suggested for various portions of the games. The Boston Convention Center, Gillette Stadium and Harvard Stadium are just a few that have been mentioned. Boston and Cambridge are full of colleges and universities that have facilities already in place for the games to be played. There has already been talk that Harvard University would act as the location for events in field hockey, tennis, aquatics, fencing and water polo. The Olympics’ use of Harvard’s facilities would even benefit Harvard. Using Harvard facilities would require that some fields and other facilities receive improvements, on the dime of the Olympics, not the university.
The Olympics have not been in the United States since Salt Lake City hosted the winter Olympics in 2002. It has been even longer since the summer Olympics have taken place in this country. The last time was when Atlanta hosted them in 1996. Many people are advocating for the summer Olympics to be hosted in America after almost three decades of being hosted elsewhere, but there are some who are vehemently fighting against the possibility. Critics of the bid have argued that hosting the Olympics will not actually cause an economic boom, but will divert resources away from more important and permanent matters such as education and transportation. Their biggest complaint is that the exorbitant amount of money that would flow into the Olympics could be spent on more important things. An organization that refers to themselves as No Boston Olympics has stated, “Boston is one of the greatest cities on earth, and we don’t need rings to prove it.”
Boston appears to be a strong contender for the 2024 summer Olympics. Boston’s bid is going up against others from Rome, Melbourne, Paris and Istanbul, among other cities. Plans have been drawn and excitement has built up, now all The Boston 2024 Partnership needs is the go ahead. Future Connecticut College students and faculty might be watching the 2024 summer Olympics from just a state away. •
