Why Boston Should Not Bid On 2024 Olympics

Boston Olympics Would Be Wasteful

With the winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, the Olympic Commission has begun pondering a bid for Boston to host the games in 2024. While hosting the olympic games can show the pride of a city, it also has many downfalls. If given the option to host the Olympic games in 2024, Boston should reject the idea.

Olympics Are Too Costly

Each Olympic cycle, host cities spend billions of dollars on infrastructure to develop impressive stadiums for the games. In general, these stadiums are quite beautiful and provide excellent backdrops for the games, but once the festivities are finished, cities are left with empty and expensive stadiums. If Boston were to host the games, it would have to build a massive Olympic Village for the occasion. 

Betting Boston's future on the success or failure of an Olympic bid is highly risky. Historically, many cities lose hundreds of millions of dollars through the hosting of games. Boston has enough to be proud of, it doesn't need to risk it's solid ground by footing an Olympic sized bill. Many local businesses would likely benefit from the games, but the city would likely find itself mired in debt. 

Boston Has No Room

Boston is among the most densely populated cities in America; it also is one of the smaller major cities. Simply put, Boston has little room for a sprawling Olympic Village. In order to clear enough space for the games, Boston would need to wipe out entire neighborhoods and reroute traffic throughout the city. The city already has a complicated network of roads, trains and subway lines; building Olympic routes would only add to the confusion.

The only conceivable area that Boston could build stadiums would be Hyde Park or West Roxbury. These neighborhoods are among the most hopeful in Boston and are undergoing rather rapid gentrification. If the Olympics were to come to town, this could interrupt or reverse many of the gains that have been made in these neighborhoods. Additionally, this part of the city is challenging to access by road and subway, so the Olympics would likely cause and extended traffic nightmare for the city.