POLL: So, Do You Want the Boston 2024 Olympics?
By Joe Micik
Boston College and the city at large might not even get a Boston 2024 Olympiad, but we can start talking about it.
With the news on Thursday that the official United States bid for the 2024 Olympic Games would come from Boston, immediately, two things happened from our perspective: we collectively began to consider how this would potentially impact Boston College, and how it might impact the city as a whole.
If Boston is awarded the Games, and we will not know that until September 2017, there are about nine and a half years until anyone has to worry about it — or are there? Should things go Boston’s way in 2017, work on the venues will start well before 2024, and other infrastructure upgrades will also get moving. In case you are one of the people struggling to find some potential upshot of the Boston 2024 bid, the “T” system could end up expanded and modernized.
About a month ago, we went into two specific areas of impact that a Boston 2024 Olympiad would have on the school. That, of course, assumes that the school agreed to be a participant (some money might help). An abridged version is that Boston College is a potential venue several times over and no students would be on campus to see the ruckus, except for maybe some freshman orientation groups. (For perspective, the kids who will be at those 2024 summer orientations are about nine years old right now.)
At 44,500 capacity, Alumni Stadium is currently the largest stadium within the Boston city limits, and the second-largest in the state behind Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. That would change with the construction of an Olympic Stadium, but Alumni Stadium could feasibly host soccer (assuming it is wide enough) and field hockey, while Conte Forum could host basketball games. No, the Plex tennis courts will not be a venue, nor will the Power Gym for volleyball, in case it needed to be said.
Boston College Eagles
The thought of Boston College getting that kind of exposure with Boston 2024 is at least a little interesting, but despite local leaders backing it, the idea of the Olympic Games coming here has been met with some outright hostility in the press and amongst the common people. Even its supporters would agree that the Games would be expensive and would disrupt life as normal for the locals, at least for a couple weeks. Being a local myself, that would be a concern, despite the intrigue and being a sports fan.
Personally, I do not expect Boston 2024 to win the final decision a few years from now, regardless of my opinions on the matter. Some would wish it would not take having to get an Olympiad to bring the T into the 21st Century, upgrade other points of infrastructure, or get Boston College some global camera time, but ultimately, the decision is out of our hands.
Except the one right below this line: Do you want the Games?