Here’s how Boston’s Olympic bid could be dropped
With nearly half of Massachusetts residents saying they don’t want the Olympics in Boston, questions have risen over the past several months about whether the U.S. Olympic Committee would drop the city’s bid.
Does it have the ability to do so? Yes, according to a document obtained by Boston.com.
A USOC agreement with Boston 2024, the group bidding to bring the Summer Games to Massachusetts, gives the committee the ability to abandon the bid. A clause in the contract draws out the conditions for an “early termination.’’
The USOC has “the right to terminate this agreement and the candidacy of the city to be the host city’’ either by a mutual agreement with Boston 2024 or “a determination by the USOC that continuing with an [International Olympic Committee] bid is not practical or advisable.’’
What would that determination depend on? The agreement names three conditions:
• A violation of certain terms previously set out in the contract.
• “[A] determination by the USOC that the likelihood of a successful [vote by the IOC for Boston to host] is low.’’
• Or “an assessment by the USOC that continuing with the IOC bid by the city is not in the long-term interests of the USOC and the Olympic movement in the United States.’’
In other words, if the USOC thinks the bid isn’t going anywhere, it can drop Boston.
The USOC has repeatedlysaid it plans to stick with Boston, which it picked over three other cities in early January. (The USOC has until September 15 until it must formally declare a city to the IOC.) But some Olympic observers have suggested it could pull the bid, with one—Alan Abrahamson of 3WireSports.com—quoting anonymous IOC members who think that is the right path.
Boston 2024 secured a $25 million insurance package in January. It was intended to cover the damages the bid committee is required to pay the USOC should Boston 2024 or the city decide to drop the bid.
However, if the USOC kills the bid because it thinks it is doomed, Boston 2024 is not on the hook for the $25 million, according to the contract.
The USOC board is scheduled to meet at the end of this month.
The early termination stipulations are laid out in a contract called the bid city agreement. The agreement was signed in March.
It was referenced in a related joinder agreement between the city and the USOC, which tied the city to the partnership.
Boston.com requested to see a copy of the bid city agreement in March and early April. Boston 2024 provided the document upon being asked again this month.
The agreement also includes clauses related to the organizational governance of Boston 2024 (the USOC gets 10 percent of the board of directors seats), the separate fundraising activities between the two committees (Boston 2024 has dibs on people and organizations within the region, while the USOC must give approval before Boston 2024 can coax the national donors the USOC relies on), and more. It is available in full below.
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[fragment number=1]Boston’s Olympic bid: The players
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