Boston Olympic Bid Working Toward Repaying Debt

(ATR) Boston dropped out as the United States’ candidate to host the 2024 Olympics in July with millions of dollars in unpaid debts, according to financial reports seen by the Boston Globe.

The report suggests at the time the Boston bid dissolved, the bid committee owed nearly $4 million in payroll and unpaid invoices while retaining $571,000 of cash on hand.

The debts owed by the bid committee ranged from more than $1 million to Elkus Manfredi Architects who helped design the bid’s venue plan to a pledged $7,500 donation to the David Ortiz Children’s Fund.

The greatest expense accrued by the committee comes from the marketing of the bid itself, totaling out to over $1.4 million. Public relations agency Weber Shandwick offered $550,000 worth of serviceswhile almost $400,000 was owed to advertising agency Hill Holiday.

Bid consulting firmsJon Tibbs Associates (JTA) and Teneo Strategy were also owed $181,000 and $290,000 respectively at the time the bid collapsed.

A spokesperson from JTA tellsAround the Rings the bid committee no longer owes the firm anything and their relationship was settled "promptly and amicably." Teneo echoed these remarks.

"Teneo and Boston 2024 parted ways amicably; we have no dispute with the bid committee, financial or otherwise. It’s a great city, and we wish them well," Teneo managing director Terrance Burns tells ATR.

According to people familiar with the bid committee’s closure, the debt was never as high as $4 million and efforts to reduce the debt have already made a lot of progress, shrinking the total to less than $1 million a little over a month after the bid ended.

They attribute the inflated debt figure to some bills that were counted twice, bills from August when the bid committee had already shut down and pro bono work that was falsely reported as an expense. They say the report was hastily prepared one day after the USOC and Boston announcement that the bid had ended.

The committee expects to pay off the remainder of the $1 million over the course of the next several weeks as they continue to receive donations. They say the time frame for the repayment of their debts is standard for an organization ending in such a manner.

The Boston bid fell through in July due to a lack of public support. The USOC replaced Boston with Los Angeles as the U.S. candidate to host the 2024 Games one month later.Both JTA and Teneo Strategy have signed on as consultants for the Los Angeles bid.

Los Angeles will submit a letter of intent to the IOC by the September 15 deadline. The U.S. city joins Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg as official bidders for the 2024 Olympics.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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