Boston Massachusetts has decided to throw their name into the hat for a possible destination for the 2024 Olympics. New England has never hosted the Olympics. The closest they have come is Lake Placid back in 1980. Boston has many positive attributes to offer an Olympic games, but how will the planning, construction, and hosting of a large event affect Boston and the surrounding regions.
Boston has a rich history in the sporting world. Lately the teams have found much success winning championships in the four major North American professional sports leagues. The city also hosts a number of smaller annual events. The largest and most notable is the Boston Marathon. The teams have a loyal fan base that covers not just Boston but the whole New England area. Boston is home to over 617,000 people and welcomes over 210,000 college students during the school months. The population is crammed into a 49 square mile radius (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2013).
There are many benefits to hosting the Olympic Games as of late. Prior to the summer games in Los Angeles, host cities did not profit. In fact most cities recorded huge losses. The city of Montreal suffered the worst monetary loss in recent years. Montreal taxpayers were still paying for buildings constructed for the games up until 2006 (Black, 2012). Thirty years after the games.
First the positive effects of bringing the Olympics to Boston. Money… since 1984 the Summer Games have brought in money for the host city from sponsorships. The profits brought in may overcome the money spent for the infrastructure to host the games and a small portion of the heavy price tag that the Big Dig set the city back. Boston has spent considerable amounts of money redesigning the roadways to accommodate the heavy amount of traffic no one expected back when the city was built for horse and buggy. They have also started to renovate the aging subway system and the stops. At the moment the Government Center stop on the T line is closed. This is a big undertaking in cost and convenience. Once completed though the subway system will easily be able to handle the influx of commuters the Olympics would bring to the city. The city would have to build an arena to host the track and field events and the opening ceremonies. Most likely the main arena would have to be in Boston for the committee to even consider them. If Boston gets the nod, they would have to also have to build an aquatics center, an Olympic village, and a velodrome for cycling, and other smaller venues. The Boston Garden could hold the basketball tournament and The Conte Forum in Boston College could host the gymnastics.
A major issue would be the 100-acre Olympic Village, with 16,500 beds and a 5,000-seat dining hall that would ideally be built close to the city center, to satisfy the IOC’s recommendations (Levinson, 2014). However, land in Boston’s urban core is scarce. A Benefit from building the village would be the dorm rooms the University of Massachusetts Boston would acquire the next year. I am sure the aquatics center would be utilized by one of the many colleges in the city.
Boston has 51,000 hotel rooms. The IOC states they only need 45,000. Those rooms do not include the vacant dorm rooms surrounding the area (Levinson, 2014). The city has many places to stay and accommodations will be expensive. New England is one of the higher cost of living regions in the US. Logan International Airport can handle the influx of travelers.
Security would be a major issue. After the Boston Marathon bombings, I am sure the training and awareness has been upgraded to the extreme. The Boston Marathon route would be a great place to hold the Olympic marathon.
The unemployment rate would decrease for the next ten years. Many people could work on the facilities before the events. Then I can’t even imagine how many people the Olympics employ during the event. The city would have to hire security, construction workers, vendors, hotel staff, food service, and many others.
The biggest benefit for hosting the Olympics will be the major boost in to the local economy. I would imagine the boost would work its way all the way up into New Hampshire. Many restaurants, hotels and tourists spots will be rolling in the money for the few weeks everyone is in town. I think this is the main reason Boston should place a bid for the games.
For all the positives for hosting the Olympics, I can think of many reasons not to host the games. Bostonians have been commuting around construction for as long as I can remember. The Big Dig was poorly run and took many years to finish. The cost kept rising as the years progressed. The Olympics could do the same. The difference would be the end result. The Big Dig bettered the city in the long run. The Olympics could cost billions of dollars and will be over after a few short weeks of competition and the buildings could not be put to use properly (Boston, 2013).
The cost to the tax payer may be more than anticipated because, like the Big Dig, no big projects ever come under budget. The money spent on the Olympics could be used to better the city in many areas like addressing inner city violence, health care costs, and job growth. Plus the money the tax payers will save from the taxes not being raised is always a good thing for the tax payers (Annear, 2014).
Besides money, which we all know is the reason for all of these events, location. Boston is too small to build these new facilities. The streets are crowded and the years leading up to the games would bring all kinds of issues for everyone’s commute. Where would a multi-use track and field arena go in downtown? Property in downtown is prime real estate and to use it for a stadium would cause the city to lose out on taxes for the land from a public business. The Olympic village would be an issue as well. I stated earlier the state university could pick them up as dorm rooms, but what if enrollment doesn’t go up enough for the schools to fill the rooms. Then the state will be footing the bill to maintain them for no reason.
After reviewing all the pros and cons, I think I would not bid on the Summer Olympics. I would however like to see the city bid on the Winter Games. New England is a winter region and hosting the Winter Olympics would benefit the region, not just the city of Boston. Boston would not have to spend the money to build up the infrastructure needed for the Summer Games. Half of the Olympic Village would be set in the mountains a two hours’ drive north of the city. The Boston Garden could still be used for the opening and closing ceremonies, not to mention the hockey tournament. All the ice events could be in the city with Mathews Arena, the original home of the Bruins now Northeastern's home. Boston College has a large ice arena. All the skiing could be done right here in New Hampshire or Vermont. The region would benefit greatly from the games. If Lake Placid could hold the games New England would have no problem.
The one thing the Summer Games has the Winter Games do not is the prestige. Everyone watches the summer edition compared to a smaller crowd for the winter. The sponsors will still be in the mix, but the people traveling to the region would be less, from the athletes to spectators. I still think the Winter Games would be a great fit for the Boston region.

BRING ON THE WINTER OLYMPICS 2026!!

Bibliography
Annear, S. (2014, February 21). There’s An Olympic-Sized Feud Happening About Boston as Host City.
Black, M. (2012, Ju;y). www.cbc.ca. Retrieved from CBC News Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winner-s-curse-the-economics-of-hosting-the-olympic-games-1.1186962
Boston, M. F. (2013). Talk of Olympics in Boston rehashes memories of Big Dig. Boston: Fox.
Levinson, D. (2014, Febuary 26). Boston Olympics in 2024 would be a ‘monumental task’.
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2013, January 3). United States 2012 Census. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/