Can new leadership mean change for Boston 2024?
Boston 2024 looks to be making some big changes in its leadership. The Boston Globe reports that chairman of the Olympic bidding committee John Fish is out, and will be replaced by Celtics co-owner and Bain Capital managing director Steve Pagliuca. Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino will take a senior advisor role, as will local business titan Jack Connors. Northeastern University athletic director Peter Roby would come on as a vice chairman.
That’s a lot of change in personnel. Will it represent any change in how Boston 2024 conducts its bidding business?
It will be a key question for Boston 2024 moving forward. The bid has polled poorly in the region since February, and the committee has made its share of public relations and tactical missteps in trying to sell the plan. It has most recently faced criticism at public meetings for not having definitive answers about its plans, instead stressing that it is in the process of soliciting feedback and that it will share an updated plan later this year.
The consequences of poor public support have grown more dire, as Boston 2024 announced in March that it would back a 2016 referendum on whether to advance with the bid.
The Globe says Fish is stepping down voluntarily, and that he will take on a vice chairman role with the committee. But it also says the personnel moves come after an “unsettling’’ email from the United States Olympic Committee last week. In other words, Fish may be choosing to step down on his own, but the timing raises questions about whether he may have gotten a nudge from the USOC, which is partnered with Boston 2024 to bring the Olympics to the Bay State. (The USOC did not immediately respond Sunday morning to a question asking what the email said.)
Would the change matter? A recent WBUR/MassINC poll showed that most voters didn’t even know who John Fish is.
But Pagliuca isn’t exactly an outsider coming in to clean up shop. He has been involved with the bid for more than a year, and is currently a vice chair. It will be on him to determine whether his ascension and Fish’s move to a less visible role will equate to more than a shuffle of seats.
Chris Dempsey, a co-chair of the opposition group No Boston Olympics, said the issue with the bid hasn’t been personnel.
“We think the fundamental problems here are with the bid itself and what the bid needs to do in order to satisfy the International Olympic Committee,’’ Dempsey told Boston.com. “There have always been talented people associated with Boston 2024. … Fundamentally, [new leadership] is not going to be able to solve the problems with the bid.’’
Dempsey said those problems include a proposed budget that he and others don’t think adds up, the current plans to build the three most expensive venues from scratch, and the IOC’s requirement for host cities to pledge to pay for any Olympic cost overruns.
“We’d love to see Boston 2024’s new leadership reject the financial guarantee,’’ Dempsey said. (Boston 2024 has said it plans to secure an insurance package that would financially protect the city.)
For its part, Boston 2024 isn’t confirming anything. In a statement to the group’s board of directors Saturday, shared with Boston.com by a spokesperson, Boston 2024 CEO Rich Davey suggested any new additions to the team would be more modification than wholesale change in direction.
“As a rule, we don’t believe it is appropriate to comment on rumor and speculation,’’ he said. “What I can tell you is that our focus as an organization and through our governance process is to ensure we leverage the deep expertise from a diverse group of individuals to strengthen our bid. We continue to identify ways to complement your impressive insights and experiences with those from other equally accomplished professionals.’’
It seems like the group will be drawing on some of those accomplished professionals. The question is how—or for that matter, whether—those professionals will affect the bid.
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