BOSTON The co-founder of the local Olympics planning group Boston 2024, who then took on a role as a part-time consultant with the organization, said restrictions by the U.S. Olympic Committee are the reason Boston 2024 was unable to gain public trust and ultimately failed.
“[The USOC] said this all needs to be quiet and you can’t release these documents and we’re in an international competition, so this all needs to be buttoned up,” Corey Dinopoulos said in an interview with WBUR.
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Dinopoulos — who at no point claimed to speak for Boston 2024 — said the group was hamstrung by requests from the USOC to stay quiet about the details of its plan in order to protect the bid, while simultaneously being asked to release information about its plans by the public.
“They didn’t work together. You’re either a private agency or you’re a public one. You can’t be both,” Dinopoulos said. “So I think that the restrictions that the USOC put on Boston 2024 ruined it from the start.”
Dinopoulos stressed that he was only a minor player in Boston 2024, never a full time employee and never “calling the shots and running the show.” Though he co-founded the organization, his work was more as a freelance consultant. Still, he said Boston 2024 leadership often kept him informed of their operations.
He also praised Boston 2024 leaders and employees, adding that he still believes they could have succeeded.
“People really have been working hard… I think they had a very good bid and I think they just needed more time and they didn’t have it,” he said.
Boston 2024 Chairman Steve Pagliuca struck a different chord in a joint statement issued with USOC CEO Scott Blackmun after it was revealed that Boston was withdrawing its bid.
“We have jointly come to the conclusion that the extensive efforts required in Boston at this stage of the bid process would detract from the U.S.’ ability to compete against strong interest from cities like Rome, Paris, Budapest and Hamburg,” Pagliuca said.
“The cornerstone idea behind Boston’s bid was sound,” Blackmun said in the same statement. “We want to compliment and thank Steve Pagliuca and his team at Boston 2024 for the remarkable work they have done.”
Neither the USOC nor Boston 2024 leadership have commented on the bid’s failure since their initial statements.
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