Boston 2020 Olympics

Maybe we should merge this thread with Boston 2024? Or, just make it Boston 2028 and save the trouble four years from now?
 
JohnAKeith said:
Maybe we should merge this thread with Boston 2024? Or, just make it Boston 2028 and save the trouble four years from now?
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John --the date in question is 2024

The US is on the desirable list as far as the IOC is considered since the last US Olympics was Atlanta in the 1990's

However 00 the IOC doenot want a Chicago-style bid - -the preparation apparently was Half or less - A$$$ed with the assumption the the newly minted president would flit the IOC -- they have to the USOC -- don't do that to us again

So the USOC is looking for a uniquely American Olympics that is profitable and a globally popular venue -- as of now Boston is apparently at the top of the list --because of:

1) History
2) large Intentional Student Body
3) experience with large sporting events such as the Marathon
4) experience with major security events -- 2004 DNC
5) Major supporting cultural venues and organizations
6) Walkable
7) experience with fund raising -- fundable

8) Olympic Stadium -- TBD
9) Olympic village -- TBD
10) The T -- needs work
 
whighlander said:
...as of now Boston is apparently at the top of the list...
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No, they aren't.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...olympic-bid/pQh5rk51XVper3S7BGTo3K/story.html

Odds are stacked against a Boston Olympic bid

Will a city that historically has refused to spend public money on stadia, ballparks, and arenas write a blank check for the Olympics? That’s the multibillion-dollar question for the Boston-area businessmen who are kicking the five-ringed tires before jumping into the race for the 2024 Summer Games.

Except for TD Garden, the city would have to build all of the big-ticket venues from scratch: the main stadium (Gillette lacks the required track), an aquatics complex with a 10-meter diving platform, a velodrome, and an Olympic village (no, college dorms don’t qualify).

...
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and an Olympic village (no, college dorms don’t qualify).
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You know what, then the IOC can stick it where the sun don't shine. The StuVi dorms are nicer then my damn apartment, as is the HBC housing. The BU brownstones aren't bad either, and if old charlesview is repurposed as temp dorm space (which I've heard a rumor or two about), its going to be pretty snazzy too. I can understand having minimum requirements for the athlete housing, but just saying "no dorms" is a load of shit.
 
bigeman312 said:
No, they aren't.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...olympic-bid/pQh5rk51XVper3S7BGTo3K/story.html
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This conversation really needs to merge into the other thread, but the argument this guy makes is valid, important, and getting really tired to me. Yes, I know that for most cities the Olympics are an urban renewal project. They wouldn't be that in Boston, Philly, LA, or really any other American host city. Atlanta didn't do it that way, and Chicago wasn't going to.

Russia and China spent many tens of billions because they wanted to. They didn't have to. If Boston can't do 2024 in our existing venues with most of the expenditures going to infrastructure, we shouldn't do it at all. If the legacy of the Games will be made from mothballed stadiums and failed urban renewal, it isn't worth doing.

The IOC can take that or leave it, but if they want a US Olympics ever again they'll have to take it. No American city has done or will do what Beijing, Sochi, Rio, etc. have done. In 2024, the IOC has its first opportunity in almost 3 decades to make a massive amount of money by holding its event in the US, and they blew it big time by freezing out the two best locations in their 2012 and 2016 bid processes. Boston, Philly, DC, Dallas... they aren't New York, but among that group Boston competes well.

By the way, Paris isn't getting the Olympics 12 years after London. The only way that happens is if the IOC voters feel bad that London stole their chance before and that the other contenders aren't worthy at all.
 
At the risk of sounding like a troll or immature know-nothing, I just have to say how much I despise the Olympics. It irks me to think that Boston would even consider bidding for it. To me, the city is just so above it.
 
having grown up in Seoul during the 80's, I can attest first hand what the long term and some permanent affects an Olympics can leave on a city. Like a previous poster said, those affects in this day and age, for an American city would obviously be very different (though I believe Atlanta did get their new Turner Field, and likely the requisite sea of parking, which is exactly the type of "infrastructure improvement" they like down there). I for one would welcome a Bostonian Olympics. I love Boston, an Olympics can only make it better.
 
Merper said:
having grown up in Seoul during the 80's, I can attest first hand what the long term and some permanent affects an Olympics can leave on a city. Like a previous poster said, those affects in this day and age, for an American city would obviously be very different (though I believe Atlanta did get their new Turner Field, and likely the requisite sea of parking, which is exactly the type of "infrastructure improvement" they like down there). I for one would welcome a Bostonian Olympics. I love Boston, an Olympics can only make it better.
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Which they're already planning on tearing down. The Braves are moving to a new stadium in the suburbs.
 
mass88 said:
Which they're already planning on tearing down. The Braves are moving to a new stadium in the suburbs.
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So?

wikipedia said:
Although a relatively new facility, the Braves executives have complained that Turner Field's downtown location restricts game attendance because of traffic into the city and a shortage of on-site parking. The stadium is three-quarters of a mile from the nearest Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) stop, and many fans were unwilling to brave Atlanta's infamous congestion to attend games.[10] In addition, team VP for business operations Mike Plant said the site "doesn't match up with where the majority of our fans come from."[11] Plant also said that while the Braves operate Turner Field, they have no control over the the commercial development around the stadium. Other stadiums built in recent years have been accompanied by shopping and entertainment facilities in the surrounding area.[12]
According to Braves team president John Schuerholz, Turner Field requires $150 million in renovation costs merely for structural upkeep (i.e., not for fan experience improvements). He estimated that fan improvement renovations would cost an additional $200 million.[10] The Braves were in talks in 2013 with the Recreational Authority over extending the team's original lease, Plant said, but those talks broke down. Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said the city could not afford to support the kind of renovations the Braves desired.[12]
After negotiations broke down, the team is planning a new stadium, tentatively known as the New Atlanta Braves stadium. The stadium will be in southern Cobb County, with an Atlanta address, located "near the geographic center of the Braves' fan base."[13]The new stadium will be constructed in a public/private partnership.[14] The projected cost is $672 million.[10] It will occupy 15 acres (6.1 ha) of a 60-acre (24 ha) lot, with the remainder of the space devoted to parking, green space, and mixed-use development.[10] Although Cobb County is not presently served by MARTA, the Braves plan to use a "circulator" bus system to shuttle fans to and from the stadium.[12] The team estimates construction will begin in the second half of 2014.[15]
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None of this sounds like anything that would happen in Boston. Not to mention any stadium built would likely be converted for MLS, the fan base of which is in the the city and uses transit.
 
Can a moderator please lock this thread and move the Boston 2024 thread from Design a Better Boston to New Developments? Whether it's a good idea or not, the discussion around a 2024 bid is very active, why are we keeping the thread hidden in Design a Better Boston where no one sees it?
 
lexicon506 said:
Can a moderator please lock this thread and move the Boston 2024 thread from Design a Better Boston to New Developments? Whether it's a good idea or not, the discussion around a 2024 bid is very active, why are we keeping the thread hidden in Design a Better Boston where no one sees it?
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I second that suggestion

The newly elected though yet to be inaugurated Mayor of Boston has just endorsed the general concept of a Boston Olympic bid for 2024

That is the topic not 2020 or 2028
 
I don't see how Boston 2024 is a "new development". Perhaps in "General"?
 
It's a proposal to invest billions of dollars into Boston's built environment. Sounds like "new development" to me!

We routinely have threads in this forum discussing projects that are years away from groundbreaking.
 
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