Boston was recently selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to be the country's candidate for the 2024 Games, trumping proposals from Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Boston is a vibrant, resilient, incredibly interesting place to live and work. But here are five reasons that the city may be a poor fit for the Olympics:
1. Boston is less than enthusiastic about the Games. A new WBUR poll shows that although a very small majority (51%) of Bostonians support the bid, an overwhelming number of residents want a referendum on the issue.
Three-quarters of poll respondents said residents of the Boston region should vote on whether to host the 2024 Summer Games.
Another poll taken by the Sage Group showed 55% support, but an even larger majority (61%) said that no public money should be used.
2. Boston is provincial. It is no insult to say the city has a uniquely insular perspective in an increasingly homogenized world.
But whereas sprawling Los Angeles and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose have a distinctly international outlook, Boston can at times feel like one big townie bar. Wonderful for the initiated, less so for the delegation from Romania or Mozambique.
3. Boston lacks the infrastructure. Traffic is brutal despite the Big Dig, an over-budget and delay-ridden project that buried a highway beneath the heart of the city. Its mass transit system is confusing and in desperate need of upgrades.
4. Boston is the world's biggest college town. Every August, the city endures an army of stressed-out parents and freshmen in a phalanx of moving trucks. This may not be the best time of year to introduce Boston to a few hundred thousand international visitors.
5. Boston doesn't need the spotlight. Practically every year, the beloved Sox, Pats, Celtics and Bruins are winning championships, helping to obliterate any inferiority complex.
Besides, there is little evidence that the Games generate any lasting economic benefits -- the 2004 Athens Games were a boondoggle for the entire nation of Greece. Beijing's gorgeous 80,000 Bird's Nest stadium now hosts soccer matches that routinely draw just a few thousand people.
Infrastructure upgrades alone are estimated at nearly $5 billion. While organizers say the state would be spending billions to upgrade roads and bridges regardless of the Games, critics suspect that only a few well-connected construction barons will truly benefit from a Boston Games.
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