Boston Firefighters Back 2024 Games

Could a Boston 2024 Olympics leave taxpayers on the hook for millions, or billions, in cost overruns?

It's the key question that keeps not going away – but Thursday, Boston 2024 published more details of its insurance plan aimed at ensuring construction costs for venues come in at or under budget and taxpayers are protected against covering losses from event cancellations, weather or terrorist disruptions.

Boston 2024 also collected an important political endorsement Thursday as well, from the 2,500-member Boston Firefighters Local 718.

"It's a beautiful city - let's show our city and state off to the people all around the world," Local 718 president Richie Paris said an interview Thursday afternoon. Paris said after support from the union executive board, union members voted unanimously last week to become the first big city union to endorse the 2024 games bid.

Besides wanting to highlight Boston, firefighters' pride also plays into the endorsement.

"I think it would be great for firefighters, police, and EMS to show the world that, yeah, we are the best," Paris said. "We have the best public service protection in the U.S. and world, and we're ready. We're ready for it."

The firefighters' support comes as Boston 2024 has finally agreed – but only under threat of a City Council subpoena - to release secret bid documents that persuaded the U.S. Olympic Committee to pick Boston as the American candidate for a 2024 games. The documents are two chapters from their "bid book" concerning finances and public and political support.

However, 2024 said it won’t release the documents until Tuesday, apparently not wanting them to dominate headlines going into a key debate Thursday night sponsored by The Boston Globe and Fox 25 News in which two key Boston 2024 leaders will square off with No Boston Olympics' Chris Dempsey and Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist.

"It looks suspicious when documents that have been in their possession for such a long time suddenly take days to get out to the public," said Evan Falchuk of the United Independent Party and Citizens for a Say, a campaign for a 2016 Massachusetts ballot question to ban any taxpayer dollars for any Boston Olympic venues or operations. "The fact that they’ve been hiding these documents for so long and had to release them under threat of a subpoena tells me they think there’s something really important in there."

Thursday, Boston 2024 released this 13-page document outlining multiple insurance policies and financial practices to which it's committing to ensure that no public money will be required to cover any Olympic overruns or revenue shortfalls.

Addressing fears that based on experience in other Olympics host cities taxpayers could become liable for millions in cost overruns on giant facilities like the Olympic Village and stadium, 2024 said it’s built in $400 million worth of cushion, or "contingencies" for those two facilities alone in its budget. Also, 2024 said, besides a range of insurance policies, it will require contractors submitting bids to construct 2024 facilities to agree to binding "guaranteed maximum price" contracts that leave the builders solely responsible if construction costs go over budget.

Falchuk said, however, he is skeptical those promises are truly reliable.

"We can't have the taxpayer be the insurer of Boston 2024," Falchuk said. "What they put out in their plan doesn't protect the taxpayer the way that they need to be, and that's why we need a law."


With videographer Daniel J. Ferrigan and video editor Lauren Kleciak

Contact Us