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Boston 2024 Announces Western Mass. Venue

http://blogs.walkerart.org

Olympic competition could be coming to western Massachusetts if Boston lands the 2024 summer games.  

The Deerfield River, which runs through Berkshire and Franklin Counties, would be the setting for Olympic canoe slalom if Boston is awarded the 2024 Summer Olympics. Boston 2024 announced the venue but said the exact location on the river where the competition would be staged has yet to be determined.

Members of a regional sports commission are working to identify locations where Olympic competitions could be held in western Massachusetts.  Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, said it could be less expensive and less logistically challenging to hold some of the Boston Olympics in this part of the state.

"We have done this in conjunction with and in support of the Boston 2024 bid, and I do think it is realistic," he said.

  In addition to the whitewater conditions on the Deerfield River, other venues in western Massachusetts could meet standards for Olympic competition in cycling and equestrian events, according to Sullivan.  Non-medal, or preliminary competitions, could be held in basketball and volleyball, owing to the region giving birth to both games.

Also, a satellite Olympic village could be set up at UMass Amherst and Westover Air Force Reserve Base in Chicopee could be used as a secure staging area to bring in the massive amounts of supplies and equipment needed to put on the games.

" I do not think it is pie in the sky," said Sullivan

Sullivan said the region would benefit with a public legacy of whatever infrastructure is built, and the economic impact of the Olympic games would be “significant.”

" There is a spin off of dollars being spent in hotels, restaurants and retail," he said. " There is the long term benefit of travel and tourism."

Boston 2024 is a private group that is putting together the Olympic bid. Since securing the nod from the U.S. Olympic Committee in January to be the U.S. representative in the international competition, Boston 2024 has come under severe criticism.

The group has been faulted for secrecy and in some cases proposing venues without first consulting the owners of the sites.  Polls show public support for the Olympics in Massachusetts has waned.  There will be a statewide voter referendum in 2016.

Boston 2024 is now trying to bounce back with announcements about new venues -- many outside Boston.  In addition to the Deerfield River, there is to be sailing on Buzzards Bay off New Bedford and beach volleyball in Quincy.

Originally promoted as a compact “walkable” Olympics, the bid architect now uses the term “ transit-oriented.”

Congressman Richard Neal says if western Massachusetts is going to support the Olympic bid the region should get high speed rail service from Boston.

"It is not enough just to  have whitewater rafting and a basketball game here. We need a long term investment. My request has been largely based on the idea Boston is going to need a lot of money for infrastructure if Boston is successful in getting the Olympics," said Neal.

The dean of the Massachusetts delegation, Neal has some leverage since Congress will likely be asked to approve spending as much as $1 billion on security for the Olympics.

A decision on where the 2024 Summer Games will be held will be made by the International Olympic Committee in September 2017.

Along with Boston, Paris has joined a field of hopefuls that also includes Hamburg and Rome.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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