US drops Boston's embattled bid to host 2024 Olympic Games

Referendum upped pressure

Just 42 percent of Boston-area respondents to a WBUR/Mass Inc poll published earlier this month said they supported the idea of hosting the games, with half against it. Three out of four respondents said they worried taxpayer funds would be required to stage the games.

The timing of the choice, which came at the start of a winter that Boston received a record-setting 9 feet (2.7 m) of snow, exposing weaknesses in the city's roads and transit systems, also served to sour public opinion on the games.

"The 'T' is a mess as it is," said Christina Wingerter, a 24-year-old student, using the nickname for the city's subway system. "No way it could handle millions of people."

The No Boston Olympics lobby group, which had formed to oppose the bid, welcomed the decision.

"We need to move forward as a city, and today's decision allows us to do that on our own terms, not the terms of the USOC or the (International Olympic Committee)," the group said in a statement. "We're better off for having passed on Boston 2024."

Officials had backed a proposal to put the matter to voters in a ballot initiative next year, during the presidential election cycle.

The move to hold the referendum just months before the IOC is expected to pick a host city, likely encouraged the USOC to drop Boston and give it more time to find an alternate candidate, observers said.

Robert Boland, a professor of sports administration at Ohio University who specializes in the Olympics, added that city officials had done little to drum up public support for the bid during the competition with other US cities.

"Boston was left standing alone rather than competing and that made it harder to drum up public support," Boland said. "The minute you get something you begin to think about not wanting it."