Boston Olympics 1

English 102 Portfolio

Submitted by
Tessa McCann
Presented to
L. Hemmings
Spring Quarter
2015
New England Institute of Technology
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INTRODUCTION

The city of Boston has recently been chosen as a potential host for the 2024 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games are an ancient event, originating almost three thousand years ago in Greece. The

first modern Olympic Games was held in Athen in 1896 (The Olympic Games 2010) and since then the

games have expanded and become revered as the most prestigious sporting event in the world.

Boston should not be chosen to host the Summer 2024 Olympic Games, because it will hurt the

economy by causing a decrease in tourism and in hotel occupancy. Another reason that hosting the

Olympics could be devastating to Boston is because the cost of hosting would leave Boston taxpayers

on the hook for paying the bill. And lastly, the amount of revenue that would be acquired during the

games would be nothing compared to the cost of hosting the games, building and sustaining the venues,

and completing much needed infrastructure improvements.

MOTIVATION

Being from Boston, I have a personal interest in this topic. I have never been the biggest fan of

the Olympic Games, but with a brother living in Boston and the rest of my family living in

Massachusetts, the last thing I want is for them to be paying for the Olympic games for another thirty

years. I have a passion for the city of Boston, its rich history, beautiful landmarks, and how so much of

the architecture points to its colonial history. It would truly be a tragedy for the city to fall into

unnecessary and avoidable economic distress.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology I used was a variety of websites, from online articles to the official website of

the leading opposing organization against the Boston Olympics.

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EXPERT OPINIONS

Context. Why Oppose Boston 2024 is an article that talks about the realities behind hosting

the Olympics and what it would really do to the people of Boston. They back up their information with

references to researchers and facts from cities that have hosted the Olympics in the past.

Economics. The Olympics is said to improve a cites economy, but according to this article, there

doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence to support that idea. Studies have shown that the opposite tends to

happen. In London and Beijing, the number of visitors actually decreased during the Olympics. Many

people who are for Boston hosting the Olympics say that it will cause Bostons hotels to take in more

business resulting in economic growth. The reality is that Bostons hotels, during the summer, tend to be

at 90% capacity. This article suggests that hosting the Olympics will actually result in a decrease in

hotel business, because many people will likely be trying to avoid the city during the months of the

Olympics.

Price. Hosting the Olympics, on average, costs 15 billion dollars, which is nearly four times the

amount Boston plans to spend on the Olympics. According to this article, that is more than the annual

income taxes that are collected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The International Olympic

Committee requires a guarantee that the host city will be able to pay the costs of hosting the Olympics,

when the budget untimely goes over the initial estimate it leaves the taxes payers responsible for paying

the rest.

Unimportant. This article stressed an idea that many other articles don't emphasize. The article

pointed out that there are many issues in Boston which need to be resolved, such as, improving the

school system and lowering the cost of health insurance. These are issues that are vital to Boston as a

city, but will be over shadowed if Boston wins the bid and becomes the hosting city for the 2024

Olympics.
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The Author. Why Oppose Boston 2024, is an article that was written by an organization called

NoBostonOlympics, which was created by Chris Dempsey, Kelley Gossett, and Liam Kerr. No

Boston Olympics is registered with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. According to Adam Vaccaro,

author of an article that covered No Boston Olympics, the three creators are politically polished, with

backgrounds similar to many of those working with the Olympic organization committee Boston

2024.

Economics. If the idea of massive debt, living in a police state, and turning Boston into the

planets largest graveyard of used rubbers sounds like paradise, then by all means, cross your fingers

that Boston will bring the 2024 Olympic Summer Games to town. If, however, you like your city pretty

much the way it is, then you may want to think twice about wanting to host the worlds biggest party

and construction project. (Vogel 2013). Its a very grim idea, but Vogel's quote does give an idea of

how drastically the consequences of hosting the Olympics might be. The article uses examples from

past Olympic hosts to illustrate the average cost of hosting. London spent 20 billion, Athens owed 16

billion, and Beijing topped it off at 40 billion. All that money gets spent on building venues, new

housing, and repairing roads, but on average only about 6 billion is made in revenues.

Displacement. An aspect of hosting the Olympics that isn't usually publicized is stressed in this article.

Each time the Olympic Games come to a city, thousands of homeless are moved or displaced. In

Beijing, 1.5 million people were relocated. Seoul moved 200,000 people and Atlanta moved 30,000.

While the Olympics were being held in Atlanta, over 2,000 public housing units were destroyed, and

homelessness was actually criminalized. In the hopes that the city could look more appealing to the

world.

Author. Chris Vogel, who is the author of this article is an award winning investigative journalist. He is

the winner of the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism and the James Aronson Award for Social

Justice. He attended graduate school in Dublin, Ireland and taught magazine writing at UCLA.Vogel
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has written articles about many sensitive topics from murders to drug wars, kidnappings, and

environmental crimes. Although the Olympic Games are not as sensitive as those topics, it shows that

he is comfortable with writing about many forms of injustice.

Economy. The promise that no public money will be spent on the Boston Olympics is

unrealistic according to Zimbalist's article. Ideally this is how the cost is suppose to be spread out. The

cost of operating the games is to be paid for by revenues, construction costs are to be covered by

private funds, and the federal government is expected to pay 100% of the security costs. However,

Zimalist presents a few very important questions for his readers to ponder on. Firstly, Why would a

US company build an Olympic stadium that will be torn down? and secondly, Why has no company

stepped forward and declared its intention even to explore this opportunity?.

Expectations. It is rare that the economical predictions before the Olympics are accurate to the reality

after the games are over. For instance, Boston intends to build a temporary stadium that seats 60,000

people and plan to make 1.15 billion dollars in ticket sales. In London, a stadium that seated 80,000

people was built and only 990 million dollars was made in ticket sales. As the titles suggest, the

numbers don't add up. Another famous Olympic assumption is that the Games will bring more tourism

to the host city, but according to Zimbalist that is not the reality. In the summer of 2012, London saw a

8% decrease in the amount of tourists compared to the year before. Beijing saw even more devastating

results, tourism decreased by 20% after the Olympic Games. These numbers do not show much

promise for anything different to happen to Boston.

Author. Andrew Zimbalist received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from

Harvard University. He has been a professor of economics at Smith College since 1974. He is a known

consultant for the sporting world and has published 22 books, including Circus Maximus: The

Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and World Cup.

CONCLUSION
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Boston should not host the Olympics in 2024 because it will not provide economical growth or

new jobs. And regardless of what promises the Olympic committees might say, it will cost the people

of Boston an unbelievable amount of money.

The potential for Boston, my home, to be the host of the Olympics is a enticing thought, but it

will cause more harm than good. According to Andrew Zimbalist's article, both London and Beijing

saw a decrease in the amount of tourism after the Olympic Games. London saw an eight percent

decrease, while Beijing saw a staggering twenty percent decrease in tourism. Boston intends on making

huge benefits from the Olympics, but the numbers simply don't add up. For the London Olympics, a

stadium with the capacity to seat eighty thousand spectators. That stadium took in nine hundred and

ninety million dollars in ticket sales. Boston has plans to build a stadium with the capacity to seat sixty

thousand people and intends to make over one billion dollars in ticket sales.

In 2009, the Associated Press produced an article that stated many facts from past Olympics that

make hosting the Olympics a less than appealing idea. After researching and reading many articles, its

becoming overwhelmingly clear that the Olympic predictions, regarding the benefits for the hosting

city, are rarely accurate. In 1996, Atlanta was intending to make roughly five billion dollars from the

Olympic Games, but they evidently made twenty percent less than what was predicted. That same city

was expecting the games to create seventy seven thousand jobs, but the games only created about half

of the initial estimate. Lastly, I don't think many people realize how devastating the Olympics can be.

The Olympics only last for a short time, but in reality the games last much longer for the hosting city.

The city of Montreal, which hosted the Olympics in 1976, didn't fully pay off the debt made by the

games until 2006, thirty years after the games took place.

As stated in many articles, the Olympics seemed to have a negative effect on the latest summer

Olympic hosts, London and Beijing. Another reason the Olympics are supposedly economically

beneficial for the hosting city is that it is expected to bring occupy the cities hotels and inns. However,
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some articles have predicted that Boston hotels will see a decrease in occupancy. According to

Vaccaro's article, Bostons hotels are usually at ninety percent capacity during the summer months.

Lastly with the past Olympics as evidence, we can say that hosting the Olympics costs, on average,

fifteen billion dollars. Boston claims its budget is going to be four billion dollars. How does Boston

intend on spending only four billion dollars, when the average cost is four times the initial budget?

In my opinion, I do not think Boston should host the Olympics in 2024 because I believe it

would inflict long lasting damage on the city ad its economy. When I first heard that Boston might be

considered to host the Olympics, I was ecstatic. Yet after I began to research the topic, I came to realize

how devastating the Olympic Games can be on the hosting city. The last thing I want is for Boston to

share the same fate as other past Olympic hosts.

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REFERENCES

1. Boston 2024 Olympics: Be Careful What You Wish For. (2013, March 7). Retrieved May 20, 2015,

from http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/03/07/boston-2024-olympics/

2. Vaccaro, A. (n.d.). How No Boston Olympics Has Steered the 2024 Bid Debate. Retrieved May 18,

2015, from http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/04/02/they-just-don-want-the-

olympics/f9MFnZxsY8WOx4Hbw68gpM/story.html?p1=feature_pri_hp

3. Why Oppose Boston2024? (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2015, from

http://www.nobostonolympics.org/why_oppose_the_games

4. Zimbalist, A. (n.d.). Olympics numbers dont add up - The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 19, 2015,

from http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/03/20/olympics-numbers-don-

add/BqrAaenp4tKK3Q7ASU5OrJ/story.html