Boston Mayor Refuses to Sign Host Contract for 2024 Olympics

When Boston 2024 first bid for the Olympics, they acknowledged in their bid that an opposition group, No Boston Olympics, had formed that was against bringing the games to Boston.

The host city contract includes the requirement that the city agree to cover any financial shortfalls of the Olympics, which has emerged as the most contentious issue around the bid. The leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee are supposed to hear from the governor of Massachusetts on Monday, July 27, 2015. That report isn’t expected until next month.

Walsh has supported the city’s Olympic aspirations since last fall even through significant public pushback. It doesn’t need to be signed until 2017, but the USOC is eager to have it delivered well before then. USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky would only say “there is a Boston 2024 bid update as part of the meeting agenda”. “The board is also pressuring Walsh, an Olympic backer, to announce that he will sign the host city contract required by the worldwide Olympic Committee, which would put city taxpayers on the hook if the Games ran short of money or suffered cost overruns, the person said”.

The official deadline to nominate a city isn’t until September 15, but the USOC is looking for answers right away. The Herald reported yesterday that Boston’s bid could face a USOC vote today.

Plans are being made for a voter referendum next year, and the bid leaders have promised if it doesn’t win both in Boston and statewide, they would pull the bid.