In the first genuine debate on the subject of Boston 2024, listeners on WBZ’s Nightside with Dan Rea were presented with as cordial a discussion of the Olympic bid as been seen in months. Boston 2024 CEO Rich Davey defied expectations and showed up for the pre-scheduled debate with No Boston Olympics co-chair Chris Dempsey, engaging in a friendly back-and-forth for an hour on Wednesday night.
After trading verbal jabs, there were a few notable takeaways. The most basic conclusion was that Davey and Dempsey, despite being on opposite sides of the 2024 issue, are friends. They admitted as much in the debate’s introduction, with Davey noting this was the first time they’d talked “without a beer in hand” for some time.
In the debate itself, the advantage would have to go to Dempsey, who has consistently proven himself a polished speaker on the many problematic issues that he (through No Boston Olympics) has identified with Boston 2024. He consistently landed lines that point to the inherent concerns that Bostonians and Massachusetts residents have voiced in the ongoing low polling data around the bid.
On the subject of public funding, which remains essentially the most important point in the debate, Dempsey was frank in his labeling of Boston 2024 as not entirely honest.
“What you’re seeing is Boston 2024 saying ‘No money for games operations,’” Dempsey began, “but then they’re changing the definition of games operations over time and narrowing it, so that things that fall out of that bucket get paid for by the taxpayers.” He cited a specific sum of $300 million originally alotted for the private Boston 2024 budget that now falls under the label of public money.
Davey defended the action, saying that the switch was made so that the money now falls under the federally-funded security budget. Massachusetts taxpayers are not being specifically left on the hook for it.
That flashpoint aside, the most notable line in the debate delivered all night came from Davey on the subject of Evan Falchuk’s ballot question. Falchuk, a former gubernatorial candidate who ran on a third party platform (the United Independent Party), has proposed a specific ballot question that would guarantee no public funding for the Boston 2024 Olympics coming from the State of Massachusetts.
“I would vote yes on that, absolutely,” Davey said. It was the most direct addressing of the ballot question yet made by a Boston 2024 official. The obvious takeaway is that Davey is committing himself publicly to the stated promise of the bid: no public funds.
Notably, as Boston.com reporter Adam Vaccaro pointed out, Falchuk’s ballot question only focuses on state level funding, not the City of Boston itself. On that subject, Davey was unspecific, saying that it is “unclear” what exactly the IOC will want Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to sign. Normally, the IOC requires the signing of a financial guarantee from the host city, providing a backstop against cost overruns.
On that subject, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has voiced his opinion on numerous occasions, stating that he won’t sign anything committing the city to paying for potential Olympic-specific projects and venues.
Image via Boston 2024
