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Boston 2024 Releases Its Revised Olympic Bid

A rendering of the proposed Olympic Stadium, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed Olympic Stadium, during the games (Boston 2024)

The group seeking to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston says the games would bring thousands of jobs and housing units to the area, and that its proposal would leave an estimated $210 million surplus.

Boston 2024 released its much-anticipated "bid 2.0" on Monday morning.

The revised bid offers more details on costs and venues, including a massive but temporary 69,000-seat Olympic Stadium at Boston's Widett Circle and a 17,200-bed Athletes' Village at Columbia Point.

athletes-village-full-size

More than a dozen venues have changed since Boston 2024's original bid, in January. Eight sports, including aquatics, still do not have venues.

The group projects the 2024 Olympics would bring in $4.805 billion in revenues from tickets (9.1 million of them), sponsors and licensing, with total operating costs of an estimated $4.595 billion.

For its budget assumptions, Boston 2024 leaders at the unveiling on Monday cited conservative budgeting, multiple layers of risk projection and insurance coverage. But opponents warn of taxpayers footing the bill, in the event of revenue shortfalls or significant cost overruns, and that a games would require billions in security and infrastructure expenditures.

Click to enlarge: Projected expenses (Boston 2024)
Click to enlarge: Projected expenses (Boston 2024)

The two major facilities — the Olympic Stadium and the Athletes' Village — would be temporary, and would leave behind transformed neighborhoods, according to the plan. Boston 2024 says a total of 8,000 apartment units would be developed at the two sites.

The group has faced a skeptical public since its original plan was released in January. The most recent WBUR poll on the issue, from earlier this month, found just 39 percent of Massachusetts residents back the bid, but support would rise for a games that are spread statewide.

A map of the proposed venues so far (Boston 2024)
A map of the proposed venues so far (Boston 2024)

In recent weeks, Boston 2024 has unveiled a bevy of new venues — some spread out beyond Greater Boston. Bid leaders said Monday that despite the farther-out venues, the games would maintain a compact footprint, as the average distance between venues would be 8.3 kilometers.

Monday’s unveiling came in advance of a meeting in San Francisco Tuesday between Boston 2024 and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

UPDATE: WBUR's Curt Nickisch has this feature:

We offered updates, below, throughout the bid presentation.


Update at 11:47 a.m.: The press availability has concluded.

Update at 11:41 a.m.:

Boston 2024 says the unannounced venues have been conservatively budgeted into their "bid 2.0"

Update at 11:35 a.m.: During a post-presentation press availability, Pagliuca is asked about potential cost overruns. He cites multiple layers of protection the group's plan has and says he believes there would be minimal risk to the taxpayer. He added that voters will decide for themselves if they believe any risks are worth any potential benefits.

Update at 11:15 a.m.: The presentation has concluded with a few remarks from Chair Pagliuca.

Curt will have a feature later today on the revised bid.

Update at 11:05 a.m.: Opposition group No Boston Olympics is tweeting along with the announcement, including:

Update at 10:55 a.m.: Architect David Manfredi is detailing proposed venues. See the Boston 2024 PDF here.

He says the average distance between venues is 8.3 kilometers, with 23 venues within 10 kilometers.

Update at 10:40 a.m.: More renderings, for Franklin Park — during the games, and their "legacy" planning:

A rendering of the proposed Franklin Park, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed Franklin Park, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed Franklin Park, after the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed Franklin Park, after the games (Boston 2024)

Update at 10:38 a.m.: Pagliuca releases details of operating costs:

And here's the slide from the documents (page 22):

costs

Update at 10:26 a.m.: Renderings of the proposed Olympic Stadium and the athlete village, during the games:

A rendering of the proposed Olympic Stadium, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed Olympic Stadium, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed athlete village, during the games (Boston 2024)
A rendering of the proposed athlete village, during the games (Boston 2024)

Update at 10:23 a.m.: More details on projected revenues:

Update at 10:14 a.m.: The presentation is underway, let by Boston 2024 CEO Steve Pagliuca:

Update at 10:07 a.m.: Here are the documents, on the Boston 2024 website.


Original post:

The local organizing group seeking to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston will release an updated version of its bid Monday.

The nonprofit Boston 2024 will unveil so-called "bid 2.0" at an event at the Boston Convention Center at 10 a.m.

The revised plan is expected to offer more details on Olympic finances, costs and key venues, including two major ones: a temporary 60,000-seat Olympic Stadium at Boston's Widett Circle and an athlete village at UMass Boston.

In recent weeks, Boston 2024 has unveiled a bevy of new venues — some spread out beyond Greater Boston — including sailing in New Bedford and shooting in Billerica.

Monday's unveiling of "bid 2.0" comes in advance of a key meeting Tuesday in San Francisco between local bid organizers and officials from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The first version of Boston 2024's Olympic bid was released in January.

Since January, the bid has struggled to gain local support. The most recent WBUR poll on the issue, from earlier this month, found just 39 percent of Massachusetts residents back the bid, but support would rise for a games that are spread statewide.

We'll update this post at 10 a.m. with details of the new bid.

This article was originally published on June 29, 2015.

Headshot of Benjamin Swasey

Benjamin Swasey Digital Manager
Ben is WBUR's digital news manager.

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