Boston pulls out of race to host 2024 Olympics due to lack of public support

PEOPLE power has won out with Boston pulling out of the race to host the 2024 Olympics, leaving the US weighing up which city could bid instead.

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2015, file photo, people hold up placards against the Olympic Games coming to Boston, during the first public forum regarding the city's 2024 Olympic bid, in Boston. Boston's mayor delivered a harsh blow to the city's effort to host the 2024 Olympics on Monday, July 27, 2015, when he declared he wouldn't sign any document "that puts one dollar of taxpayer money on the line for one penny of overruns on the Olympics." That document is the host city contract that most in the Olympics consider crucial to any city's success. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Boston has withdrawn as a candidate for the 2024 Olympics, citing a lack of public support as the US Olympic Committee pondered a replacement bid ahead of a looming deadline.

A quest that began six months ago when Boston defeated Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington to become the US hopeful for the 2024 race ended on Monday shortly after Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said he was not ready to commit taxpayers to financing any cost overruns for the multi-sport spectacle.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh after the city was picked as the US bid city for the 2024 Olympics.

Add the lack of support from Boston citizens for the idea in multiple polls and US Olympic Committee chief executive Scott Blackmun had little choice but to pull the plug.

“We have not been able to get a majority of the citizens of Boston to support hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, therefore, the USOC does not think that the level of support enjoyed by Boston’s bid would allow it to prevail over great bids from Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest or Toronto,” Blackmun said in a statement.

“Boston 2024 has expressed confidence that, with more time, they could generate the public support necessary to win the bid and deliver a great Games. They also recognise, however, that we are out of time if the USOC is going to be able to consider a bid from another city. As a result, we have reached a mutual agreement to withdraw Boston’s bid.” With only seven weeks before official nominations are due to the International Olympic Committee, US officials are in the humbling position of having to pull together a short-notice plan to offer against their global rivals.

Boston’s proposed Olympic stadium.

The United States has not hosted the Summer Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta and has not hosted the Winter Olympics since 2002 at Salt Lake City.

A 2012 New York bid was undone by the last-minute wipe-out of the planned main stadium site while a 2016 Chicago bid was the first ousted in IOC voting.

“The USOC would very much like to see an American city host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024,” Blackmun said.

“We will immediately begin to explore whether we can do so on a basis consistent with our guiding principles, to which we remain firmly committed. We understand the reality of the timeline that is before us.”

Originally published as Boston pulls out of race to host 2024 Olympics due to lack of public support