USOC: Tokyo 2020 Host Contract Not a Model For Boston

(ATR) The United States Olympic Committee says that the host city contract for the Tokyo 2020 games is not applicable to Boston.

"The United States Olympic Committee subsequently offered [the Tokyo contract] to the Boston 2024 Partnership as a point of reference in deciding whether to bid for the 2024 Games," Patrick Sandusky, USOC chief communications and public affairs officer said in a statement.

"The template was created prior to the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020; it is not a reliable model for the 2024 Host City Contract."

The USOC released the host city contract on Thursday in light of pressure from Boston media, specifically the Boston Hearld.

Normally, host city contracts are proprietary information of the International Olympic Committee, although the 2022 host city contract was made public by the Oslo 2022 bid.

On May 15, the Herald reported that the Tokyo 2020 host city contract contained clauses that put Tokyo taxpayers on the hook for Olympic venues, the major sticking point of the Boston 2024 bid.

In an April poll, only 43 percent of respondents said they would support a Boston Olympic bid if no language about taxpayer money was included. That number grew to 56 percent support with financial guarantees of no use of taxpayer dollars.

Boston 2024 is currently revising its bid plan, with state leadership expressing a wish for the plan to be completed by early June.

"While this contract is not an indication of what could be contracted for the 2024 Games, the release of the 2020 Host City Contracts reflects this commitment and keeps us focused on our primary objective: bringing the Olympics back to the U.S., right here in Boston," Boston 2024 said in a statement.

Boston, Hamburg, Paris, and Rome are the confirmed bid cities for the 2024 Olympics. A bid could come from Budapest, Hungary. The IOC will decide the 2024 host city in 2017.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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