The United States Olympic Committee has picked Boston as the standard-bearer in a global competition to host the 2024 Olympic Games. 

 

After a meeting at Denver International Airport, the USOC announced Thursday that it will support Boston’s Olympic bid over San Francisco, Washington D.C. and two-time Olympic host Los Angeles. Over the next two and a half years, the city of Boston will be part of a hosting competition that could include Paris, Rome, Hamberg, Berlin, Budapest and Istanbul.

 

In the meantime, the Boston 2024 group must fill in the details of an Olympic venue and transportation plans for the most prestigious international sports festival to possibly take place nine years from now. 

 

Local Olympic organizers claim that Boston’s 2024 Olympic budget is estimated at around $4.5 billion and would be financed mainly through broadcast feels, corporate sponsorships and ticket sales. They have pledged no public money will be used, beyond what is already planned to be spent for infrastructure improvements. 

 

According to 2024Boston.org, Massachusetts has been home to over 100 sporting events since 1996 including: Major League Baseball All-Star Game and Fanfest, National Hockey League All-Star Game, U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Trials, U.S. Figure Skating Championships, NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four, NCAA Division 1 Men’s Ice Hockey “Frozen Four,” 1999 Women’s World Cup, 2009 World Skateboard Championships, 2012 Fed Cup Tennis Tournament, and 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championship. 

 

The International Olympic Committee will choose the host city for the 2024 Summer Games and Paralympic Games at a meeting in Lima, Peru scheduled for 2017.