No Olympics for Boston

By: Connor Lenahan

I was astonished when preparing for this post that the announcement that Boston had been selected at the bid city for the 2024 Olympics was all the way back in January. It is somewhat shocking that this has been a real, tangible idea for that long. I’d have guessed it was more towards the spring. This all doesn’t matter, of course, because news has come today that the bid for the Olympics in Boston is no more.

Confirmation is here that mutually all sides agreed to try with a different city. Boston is busy enough as is, even in the summer. Citizens were largely against it over the past few months. The longer the discussions of logistics continued, the clearer it became that this was probably a bad call. After all, we just had a public transportation system or six that couldn’t handle snow. In the Northeast. In February.

Yeah, this is probably a good call.

It’s a tiny bit sad to see the bid die, yes, only as a function of city pride. Boston got the bid – not Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, but Boston. However, as many have since noted, being selected was about as poor a logistical choice for the United States as any. Los Angeles will probably now get the bid. Given that LA is probably getting the Chargers, Raiders, and/or the Rams in the next few years, as well as a new NFL stadium, then the Olympics will probably end up being there. I mean, it’d be on American soil, so I’m happy enough.

Farewell to the Boston 2024 bid. Thanks for one of the crazier six month stories in recent memory.