Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks, as Boston 2024 Partnership Chairman Steve Pagliuca, back left, and Olympian Aly Raisman, right, listen during a news conference, Thursday in Boston, where it was announced that TD Garden would be the site of the Olympic and Paralympic basketball finals and Olympic gymnastics and trampoline if the city wins a bid to host the 2024 games. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s TD Garden has been named as the preferred venue for Olympic and Paralympic basketball finals and Olympic gymnastics and trampoline if Boston is named the host city for the 2024 Summer Games.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Boston 2024 Partnership Chairman Steve Pagliuca made the announcement Thursday inside the 19,600-seat arena, home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. Pagliuca is an owner of the Celtics.
The arena previously hosted the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Gymnastic Trials and the 2001 and 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, as well as the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final.
Olympian Jo Jo White, left, smiles at his wife, Deborah, as they listen during a news conference, Thursday, in Boston, where it was announced that TD Garden would be the site of the Olympic and Paralympic basketball finals and Olympic gymnastics and trampoline if the city wins a bid to host the 2024 games. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Walsh and Pagliuca were joined by gold-medal Olympians — gymnast Aly Raisman and Jo Jo White, a member of the U.S. Men’s Basketball team during the 1968 Summer Olympics who went on to be a star player for the Celtics.
Pagliuca said that after some early stumbles and polls showing flagging support, he hopes the naming of specific sites will begin to turn public opinion in favor of Boston hosting the games.
“We’re feeling the winds at our back,” he said.
Walsh echoed those feelings, saying that by identifying locations, organizers are beginning to strip away some of the uncertainty about the Olympics bid.
“It’s added some reality to what we’ve been talking about for the past few months,” Walsh said.
The U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston as the American nominee for the 2024 Summer Games in a surprise move in January.
The effort has struggled to gain traction locally, leading to questions about whether the USOC will drop the bid or put forward another U.S. city like Los Angeles.
The International Olympic Committee is scheduled to pick a host for the 2024 Summer Games in 2017, where an American nominee would compete against Hamburg, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary, as well as Rome and Paris.
Thursday’s announcement is the latest in a series regarding potential venues as part of Boston’s bid for the games. Organizers plan to announce additional venues over the next several weeks.
The group No Boston Olympics, which opposes the city’s bid, faulted backers, saying “no amount of venue shifting makes Boston 2024 a responsible deal for Massachusetts.”
On Wednesday, Boston 2024 proposed holding beach volleyball competitions at a waterfront park in Quincy, a city just south of Boston.
Organizers had initially hoped to hold the competition on historic Boston Common, but met with opposition from residents in the upscale Beacon Hill neighborhood that faces the famed green space, the oldest city park in the U.S.
The new venues mean the games will be spread out a bit more than organizers had initially hoped. But Pagliuca said the plan will still be more compact than other recent Olympics.
“I am excited that TD Garden has been selected as the Olympic venue for basketball and gymnastics if Boston hosts the Games in 2024,” Walsh said. “TD Garden is a Boston tradition where residents and visitors enjoy cheering on their favorite teams, and now is our chance to cheer for Team USA right here in Boston. I look forward to continuing to work with the community and Boston 2024 to ensure that we are planning a fiscally responsible, privately funded Games that will bring long term benefits to the City.”
“For Boston sports fans that have grown up watching the Celtics and Bruins at the Garden, I think the chance to watch Olympic and Paralympic events live and in person would be the thrill of a lifetime,” said Pagliuca.
“The honor and excitement of being able to compete for your country, in your country, must be amazing. There would be nothing better than competing for this city and the people of Boston,” said Raisman.
“What an honor to represent your country,” said White. “The experience was life changing seeing the top athletes in the world play at the highest level of competition. Then to stand on the podium and receive the Gold Medal when all odds were stacked against you. Nothing like it and an experience I will never forget.”
“TD Garden is one of Boston’s iconic sports venues,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “It will be a wonderful setting for the world’s best gymnasts. TD Garden has already hosted many incredible gymnastics moments at the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and the 2012 post-Olympic Tour. The 2024 Olympic competition will enhance that legacy.”
“The TD Garden is a first-class facility which would be a tremendous venue for the men’s and women’s Olympic basketball competitions and for spectators,” said USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley. “When you combine Boston Garden with the long-standing tradition of basketball that exists in the city of Boston and surrounding communities, it makes Boston Garden an ideal venue for an Olympic competition.”
