German Government Earmarks Funds for Hamburg

(ATR) Hamburg 2024 received $33 million from the German government.

The government approved the funding on May 21 in a meeting of the budget committee. The three major parties of Germany - the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, and the Green party - all voted in favor of the funding.

According to a report from Deutschlandfunk, the bid is expected to have a budget of $55 million with the remaining funds coming from the Hamburg chamber of commerce. The German government did not contribute any funds to the 2018 Winter Olympics bid from Munich.

""This [bid] is an application of the Federal Republic of Germany," Johannes Kahrs, a member of the Social Democrats in the German parliament, said to Deutschlandfunk.

"This is why it is also important that the federal government also very heavily involved. We want, of course, [to show] that the German chancellor, the vice chancellor, the home secretary and the secretary of state are committed."

On May 28, the Hamburg state parliament will set a date for a referendum on the Olympic bid. According to polls in the country, the referendum is expected to pass as three-quarters of Germans support the bid.

Rome Medal Ceremonies

The mayor of Rome wants Olympic medal ceremonies to take place at the iconic Colosseum.

"We want to rebuild the arena of the Colosseum so that the athletes can be lifted in like the gladiators in the Roman times," Ignazio Marino said.

Marino proposed the idea when meeting with IOC president Thomas Bach, Italian president Sergio Mattarella, and Italian National Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago.

According to a report in the AP, Bach was receptive to the idea saying "as long as the lions don't then arrive."

"I wish you good luck with the bid. Congratulations on your good work. Continue like this," Bach said.

"I see that there is a lot of unity behind Rome's bid. This is very important and gives strength to the Italian project."

Rome - along with Boston, Budapest, Hamburg and Paris - is interested in bidding for the 2024 Olympics.

Boston 2024 Faces Media Blitz

Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung tells the U.S. Olympic Committee that it only seems like Bostonians don’t want to host the Olympics to people who don’t know Boston.

"We love to hate. We love to complain. We love to hate that we complain," Leung writes."[Prior to the Games], we will throw tantrums like two-year-olds.

"Don't be scared. We just need this moment.

"When we calm down, we get down to business, but always on our terms, never yours."

Jon Keller, a political analyst for CBS Boston and a contributing editor for Boston Magazine, says Leung is "so wrong on so many levels."

In response to Leung’s Boston Globe column, Keller says, "Leung calls us 'stingy.' Yes, we’re stingy about risking billions of precious public dollars on a risky scheme of dubious public benefit.

"But when she accuses us of juvenile 'tantrums,' that is the exact opposite of the truth.

"This is how adults act when we’re fed spin and nonsense."

U.S. political cartoonist Dan Wasserman offers his take on the Boston Olympic bid in the May 21 edition of the Boston Globe.

Local Boston radio station WGBH takes on Boston's Olympics concerns.

Boston.com writer Adam Vaccaro discusses how things went wrong for former Boston 2024 chairman John Fish.

"His work as the CEO of Suffolk Construction was anathema for some as the Olympics idea grew."

Vaccaro adds, "Fish also came under fire after he said he was upset by what he considers to be a lack of patriotism in the country today, and that he was hopeful a Boston Olympics could help revive it.

"Olympic opponents took this as a criticism of their own patriotism."

Dustin Luca, staff writer for a local daily in Essex County, Massachusetts, says that if Boston hosts the 2024 Olympics, "the North Shore will host more ancillary Olympiad traffic than official events."

At least Luca says that is what was communicated during a community forum held by Boston 2024 at Salem State University Thursday night.

The AFP discusses Boston 2024's leadership "shake-up" as well.

"With Boston's 2024 Olympic aspirations taking a beating, those hoping to bring the games to the New England city have turned to some local sports and business heavyweights to energize their bid."

The Boston Business Journal gets Putnam Investments CEO Bob Reynolds' take on the opposition to Boston 2024.

"If something is good, or very good, it’s going to be hard," Putnam says.

"I do think the Olympics can have a tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime, generational impact on the city."

Written byAaron Bauer

Media watch compiled by Nicole Bennett

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