Yes, Boston Could Host an Olympics
As far as I know, they only did it once, but the Globe couldn’t help running a story with a headline something like, “This could have been Boston’s Olympics.”
Did any regular person say that to you? I’m going to guess that they didn’t.
Let’s talk about why.
In late 2014, Boston was named by the US Olympic Committee as a finalist to host the 2024 Olympics. Marty Walsh was all in favor of the idea, and a committee was formed. I believe it had a more formal name, but everyone called it Boston 2024.
The chairman was John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction. I am sure Mr. Fish is a nice chap and credible in small groups, but he was not known to the public, and he messed up his introduction.
His first, and most glaring, mistake was saying words to the effect of, “We’ll fix the T!”
No, you won’t, we all thought. It’s 2024, and the T (Boston’s subway) still isn’t fixed.
This was right after the worst, snowiest winter of my lifetime, and my lifetime includes 1978. (I missed the worst of 2015’s T woes, because my wife was in treatment at Dana Farber, and we always had to drive.) People often experienced three-hour delays. Ever been to a three-hour movie and thought it was too long? Imagine being underground, in a packed car with everyone wearing winter coats, and spotty cell service, for three hours.
I’ve been riding the T regularly since I was 14. I’ve been in 45- to 60-minute delays. When those were rare, they tended to inspire a weary camaraderie. When far longer delays were regular occurrences, they broke the public’s trust. Now, even five-minute delays cause palpable tension.
They would not have fixed the T. Boston Coach, Uber, and Lyft would be giving athletes rides to games, and making damn sure we knew how wonderful they were to do so.
At some point, as opposition became apparent and a group called No Boston Olympics began to get traction, Fish said words to the effect of, “I thought people were more patriotic.”
Dude! We invented the word. No one had questioned our patriotism since the Gulf War, and we weren’t ready to hear it from our neighbor. He was later replaced as chairman of the effort.
The late Jack Connors would have been a better messenger, partly because people generally knew who he was, and because he would have been careful not to overpromise. He also likely would have avoided being chairman, just been “involved.” Fish’s job in construction didn’t help either; even if his firm didn’t bid on anything, he would have been a hero in the industry for the rest of his days. There would have been ancillary benefits.
The Boston Globe played the most interesting role. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Globe had an outstanding sports section packed with columnists. At that time, there would have been commentary on both sides, with a lot of sarcasm like, “They should run the 400-meter down Storrow at rush hour,” but my guess is that the Globe of any era would have ended up supporting the effort.
But the Globe of 2015 was owned by John Henry, principal owner of the Red Sox. Don’t get me started on the New York Times Company selling to Henry. If this were a mining town in West Virginia, they never would have considered selling the paper to the owner of the mine. But Boston is one of (What, eight? Maybe?) baseball towns in America. And they sold it to one of their business partners (the Times Company owns part of the Red Sox) at the basement price of $70 million. Henry put his wife in charge. (Worth noting, Linda is qualified to run a paper, but she’s still Mrs. John Henry.)
Obviously, any Olympics here would use Fenway Park, and the Fenway Sports Group would benefit. The Globe had no credibility on the Olympic story, and the paper seemed to know it. They seemed to be waiting for everyone to come around.
Finally, the most important barrier was the Olympics.
Sure, we adopt Olympic athletes occasionally. Everyone loves Simone Biles, for example. But I am quite sure the only reason I know Bode Miller’s name is that he’s from New England. Our interest in Nancy Kerrigan was about 50% rooted in her being from Stoneham. We’re not terribly interested in the Olympics themselves, and we don’t know who most of the athletes are.
And the Olympics … well, let’s just say it. They’re corrupt.
I invite you to search on the name Marie-Reine Le Gougne. But there’s also this and a lot of other examples. As I write, a gymnast named Jordan Chiles is being asked to surrender her bronze medal, and I’m having a hard time understanding why.
The corruption might be part of the cost of doing business, so to speak, for such an elaborate and international enterprise, but that doesn’t mean we have to host it. (For the record, I think the Olympics is probably less corrupt than FIFA.)
All this said, the plan that emerged using multiple, existing venues was clever. I am confident that Boston could host the Olympics. Whether Boston should is a question Marty Walsh and John Fish had no interest in asking, and that didn’t sit well with the public. Walsh later grumbled about “Twelve people on Twitter,” which was an interesting comment because it was petty and unfair, but he might have been right. Twitter doesn’t always reflect public opinion, but in this case I think it did.
New Englanders, and Bostonians in particular, have a reputation for being resistant to change. The reputation is earned, but we do change eventually, and we believe in second chances. Maybe Boston 2036 is something to consider.