Updated: Major Leadership Change Imminent for Boston Olympic Bid

(ATR) Around the Rings is told that a new chief is coming for the Boston 2024 bid.

Media reports in Boston say that John Fish will be replaced as chair of the Boston bid. The construction company executive has led the campaign since it was formed in 2013 and has been the public face of the bid.

A source familiar with the situation tells ATR that impatience is building at the USOC over the inability of the current Boston 2024 leadership team to reverse weak public support for the bid in the city and state of Massachusetts. The source says the leadership changes speculated in the press appear to be accurate.

Boston 2024 comms chief Christa Carone tells Around the Rings says the bid believes it is not appropriate to comment on "rumor and speculation".

But Carone did supply a message sent this weekend from CEO Rich Davey to the newly named board of directors. Without specifics, Davey indicated new hands will be brought aboard to aid the bid.

"Our focus as an organization and through our governance process is to ensure we leverage the deep expertise from a diverse group of individuals to strengthen our bid. We continue to identify ways to complement your impressive insights and experiences with those from other equally accomplished professionals. As our bid process evolves, so too will our approach to expanding our Board and council of advisors...all with one clear objective in mind: to bring the Olympics to the U.S., right here in Boston," said Davey to the 30 board members.

The Boston Globe reports that Fish is to be replaced by Stephen Pagliuca, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics NBA team and an executive at Bain Capital. Fish would remain part of the bid as a vice chair but would yield the public role. Pagliuca is already a bid vice chair.

Also reported to be on his way to a significant role overseeing the bid is Boston Red Sox president and chief executive Larry Lucchino. He has experience with the construction of two Major League Baseball stadiums, a background that may be suited to the challenges for Boston 2024 that include building a temporary Olympic Stadium.

Fish may have spoken publicly about the Olympic bid for the last time during an appearance April 30 at a U.S. Olympic Committee event in Los Angeles. At two subsequent speeches, bid CEO Richard Davey stepped in for Fish. Last week in Boston when Fish spoke to the Chamber of Commerce, he did not mention the Boston bid.

In his Los Angeles appearance, Fish laid out a scenario that he said would lead to a surge in public support for the bid. Fish said with the coming of spring, the melting of snow from historic blizzards and the launch of a new season of Red Sox baseball and running of the 2015 Boston Marathon, enthusiasm for the Olympics would take off.

A month after Boston was given the U.S. nomination for 2024 by the USOC, one survey showed just 36 percent support for the bid. More recent surveys show the number rising slightly to 40 percent.

The board of directors for the USOC, which made the decision in early January to select Boston over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will meet at the end of June. The possibility looms that unless Boston is able to show gains in public support, the board could withdraw the nomination. Los Angeles, host of two previous Summer Games, is said to be the preferred alternative.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has until September 15 to submit a nominee for the 2024 race to the IOC. While it has the ability to make a change, never has the USOC switched bid cities in such a fashion, nor has it happened with bids from other countries.

Complicating the issue for the USOC board is the scheduling of a referendum on the Boston 2024 bid in November 2016. Should the referendum fail the bid is over, it would be too late for the U.S. to put forward another candidate.

Written by EdHula

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