Boston World Cup Glow Revives Olympic Talk Despite $4.7 Billion Cost Warning
Updated
Updated · Boston.com · Jul 14
Boston World Cup Glow Revives Olympic Talk Despite $4.7 Billion Cost Warning
2 articles · Updated · Boston.com · Jul 14
Summary
$100 million in expected taxpayer spending for Boston's seven World Cup matches has helped reignite local talk of hosting the Olympics after a well-received tournament run in Foxborough.
That comparison is misleading, the report argues, because the World Cup used one stadium while an Olympics would span 36 Olympic sports, 23 Paralympic sports and more than 800 events across 40-plus venues in Los Angeles 2028.
Boston's abandoned 2015 bid would have required major new construction, including a temporary 69,000-seat main stadium, an Olympic village, a velodrome and an aquatics center because existing venues failed IOC requirements.
The bid's original $4.7 billion estimate was already criticized as too low, and a state-backed review warned of more than $3 billion in overruns, reinforcing why the city's World Cup success has not erased old Olympic concerns.