Boston revealed Monday afternoon that it had withdrawn itself from consideration to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The announcement came hours after mayor Marty Walsh said he wouldn’t sign any contracts that left local taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns, which are virtually guaranteed to balloon anytime anyone hosts a global sporting mega-event.
At first glance, his words may have seemed like a relatively minor act of populist defiance. Yet Boston’s thanks-but-no-thanks actually reveals something much deeper. No one wants to host the Olympics anymore — nor should they.
There are, of course, success stories — Barcelona in 1992 is seen as a win for all involved, for example. But for illustrations of why the Olympics have become radioactive for most prospective hosts, one need only look at the recent past.
Surely you haven’t forgotten Sochi last year, when journalists and athletes stepped into a chaotic construction scene just days ahead of the Games. The most expensive Olympics in history cost more than $50 billion to pull off, enriching a small minority as the rest of the country’s economy languishes. Just eight months after the closing ceremony, Sochi was described as a “ghost town.”
Or let’s look back 10 years before Sochi, to the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Greece spent $10 billion to host those Games. Today, Greece’s economy is in tatters. Could these two things somehow be related?
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