Olympic Costs

For John, BLUF:  I am betting there will be an overrun and it will be in the neighborhood of 45% ($11.75B total).  Not outside reasonable expectations.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Ms Shirley Leung has an opinion piece in the Business Section of today's Boston Globe.  It is about the 2024 Olympics and is titled "At what price will the Games be worth it to Boston?"

I’ve been getting an Olympic-size headache trying to figure out the actual cost of hosting the Summer Games.

Sure, Boston 2024 lays out its budget in a slick 19-page bid document telling us the price tag, not including security and infrastructure, will be $8.1 billion. All of the funds, in theory, will be put up by the private sector and institutions like the University of Massachusetts Boston that will use the facilities afterward.

The underlying question is what will it cost in addition.  There is a graphic accompanying Ms Leung's article, showing how different sites have experienced cost overruns.  Some of them are pretty large, although not as large as the Big Dig, which tripled in price.♠

People may not view this as a serious issue.  This morning, on City Life, Host George Anthes was bad mouthing those who might be opposed to the Boston 2024 Olympics.  This grew out of his declaring that while he is a Republican, he supports Representative Dave Nangle and State Senator Eileen Donoghue.♥  That segued into the Olympics bid, of which Senator Donoghue is a strong supporter.♦

I say let us not, up here in Lowell, go all Marty Walsh and shut down free and open discussion about this event a decade in the future.  Let us not make fun of or ridicule those who have a different opinion, a concern that we don't feel.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The Big Dig is sort of the F-35 of public works projects.
♥  They are both from out in Western Mass.
♦  I am thinking that the Senator needs to update her Wikipedia page.