Advertisement

Backers of Boston's embattled Olympic bid to revise proposal

BOSTON (Reuters) - Backers of Boston's controversial bid to host the 2024 Olympic on Monday are set to unveil a revised proposal they say will address concerns the event will be too costly and overwhelm the city's infrastructure. The Boston 2024 host committee has said its new plan includes moving more proposed venues to outlying areas, among other changes. Steve Pagliuca, a private equity executive and co-owner of the Boston Celtics brought in to lead the group in May, is scheduled to unveil the proposal at a news conference later on Monday. Its initial bid, which ran into stiff public opposition, was forecast to cost $9.5 billion, well below the record $50 billion that Russia spent on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Backers have said that forecast was in line with the International Olympic Committee's call for a more sustainable approach to the global sporting event. However, many in Boston were skeptical that the Summer Games could be staged at such low cost, with polls showing that residents believed that city taxpayers would be left paying for parts of the event, despite assurances by organizers and the city's mayor, Marty Walsh, that they would not. A poll released earlier this month by WBUR radio found 49 percent of the 502 state residents polled said they opposed holding the 2024 Summer Games in Boston, compared with 39 percent who said they supported it. Support was modestly stronger, 51 percent, when respondents were asked how they would feel if events related to the games were spread across the state, according to the poll conducted by the MassInc Polling Group. Boston faces competition from a host of other major cities seeking to host the 2024 Games, including Paris, Rome and Hamburg, Germany. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Susan Heavey)