Boston 2024 Could Bring "Olympics Boondoggle" -- Media Watch

(ATR)Alex Reimer, a writer for digital city news source BostInno, is a millennial who does not want Boston to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

"The pro-Boston 2024 folks have done a nice job of painting their opponents as parochial curmudgeons who loathe progress, but that couldn't be further from the truth," Reimer says.

On Jan. 8 the United States Olympic Committee chose Boston over Los Angeles; San Francisco and Washington, D.C. to bid for the Games in ten years.

Reimer says Boston does not need to bring on a "likely Olympics boondoggle" to add to its reputation on the international sports stage.

"The Boston 2024 committee continues to stress how hosting the Olympics would bring much-needed infrastructure improvement to the area," Reimer adds. "But its members fail to explain why infrastructure can't be improved regardless of whether the world's most expensive block party comes to Boston."

Patrick Rishe, a contributing writer for Forbes, scrutinizes the USOC's Olympics choice. In considering"certain variables which event rights holders like to see in order to bring their events to your community," Rishe says, "one can see why Boston is certainly not a poor choice to be the U.S. representative city in the Summer 2024 bid."

Boston Globe columnistJoan Vennochi says that ahead of his first State of the City address, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh should keep a particular goal in mind:"He must convince Bostonians the quest for Olympic gold won’t swallow up the rest of his agenda."

Vennochi's colleague at the Globe, John Powers, thinks the timing may actually be right for Boston 2024.

"Not only has the IOC strongly encouraged an American candidate, but Boston's bid also is in tune with the committee's new emphasis on using existing, temporary, and movable venues," Powers says.

Boston.com staff writer Adam Vaccaro gives readers a "quick look" at what happens next in the bid race for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Philip Hersh, a writer for the Chicago Tribune, highlights"an unexpected legacy of the failed Chicago 2016 Olympic bid" that emerged in the wake the USOC's 2024 bid selection.

"Dan O’Connell, president of the Boston bid for the 2024 Olympics, credited Chicago bid chairman Pat Ryan for the concept of using insurance policies as a way to provide international and local financial guarantees for the costs of staging the Summer Games," Hersh says.

Chris Dempsey, co-chairman of a group opposing Boston's Olympic aspirations, tells the Boston Herald the No Boston Olympicswebsite has seen a lot of activity in the days after the USOC's 2024 decision.

"We had over 1,000 sign-ups on our website in the 72 hours since the USOC announcement," the Heraldquotes Dempsey as saying. "We feel like we were part of the debate and part of the news, and people responded by coming to us and saying, 'How can I help? How can I support you guys?'"

In an article for The Daily Beast, economist Andrew Zimbalist says Boston's Olympic bid is terrible for the city's pocketbooks.

"The city of Boston may have won the nomination for the U.S. 2024 Olympic bid, but in the end, its taxpayers may end up losing," Zimbalist adds.

Tom Caron, studio host for New England Sports Network and columnist for the Portland Press, weighs in on Boston's Olympic aspirations.

"The Olympics themselves do live up to expectations; that's why any metropolitan city would love to host the world," Caron says."But at what cost? That's the question we'll be asking for the next two years as the USOC bids to bring the Games to Boston."

Athletes on the Road to Rio 2016

David Dorsey, a writer for Fort Myers, Florida's daily newspaper News-Press, speaks with an athlete who has her sight set on competing at the 2016 Summer Games.

"Stephanie Peacock transformed the agony of one defeat into realistic Olympic aspirations," Dorsey says. "The 22-year-old graduate of the University of North Carolina has changed the trajectory of her newfound professional swimming career."

USA Today features a report from KREM's Jane McCarthy on an "old mom who runs so fast, she may be Olympics-bound." KREM, a CBS-affiliated TV news station, speaks with Victoria Russell, an athlete who did not run her first marathon until she was 37 years old.

"A pretty impressive feat for some," McCarthy says. "What's even more impressive is that this mother of three ran her fastest time ever to qualify for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Time Trials in the marathon at the young age of 42."

Compiled byNicole Bennett

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