Boston's Ride, Or Thanks But No Thanks, Olympic Committee

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

What do you give a city that has everything? Maybe not the Olympic Games. This week, the city of Boston declined to sign what's called a host city contract that would make it liable to pay for any losses incurred by the Olympics, which effectively ended its bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I cannot commit to putting the taxpayers at risk, said Mayor Martin Walsh, who had wanted the games for Boston. But spending by host cities has grown to be colossal in recent years. The cost for Sochi, Russia, to host the Winter Olympics last year have vaulted past $50 billion. The Olympics are often presented as a chance to enrich a city with new public spending. But, Bent Flyvbjerg and Allison Stewart, the Oxford economists, point out every Olympic since 1960 has gone above budget an average of 179 percent. They call the Olympics one of the most financially risky type of megaprojects that exists, something that many cities and nations have learned at their peril. Mayor Walsh of Boston said no benefit is so great that it's worth handing over the financial future of our city. So with apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, listen, my children, and you shall hear how Boston didn't want the Olympics there. In the last week of July, 2015, nary a woman or man between Middlesex and Marblehead will forget that week and year. Olympic high-rollers laid down a decree. Boston officials must sign a guarantee. Our games are expensive, the Olympians said. The last ones still make accountants see red. You'll have to build roads, housing, bridges and stadia to accommodate athletes, sponsors and media from Saudi Arabia, Albania, Romania and Tasmania. When the games are over, they'll be empty memorabilia. Great athletes will vie for silver and gold, while rich companies pay dearly to be sold to the largest audience the world can behold. But if, as in all Olympics since 1960, the games blow up the budget, the chance is risky, don't worry. Boston will pick up the check. How lucky. Please sign by close of business Wednesday. One if signed by hand and two if signed by email, and we on the opposite shore will be to bail out any officials accused of bribery. Boston has Harvard, Mass. General, a great symphony. They preserve history and pursue arts assiduously, the long Big Dig remade downtown with audacity. If Paul Revere rode today, he might shout from his mount, the Olympics may be coming, glory or bankruptcy? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.