Boston 2024 Olympics Organizers Release Insurance Plans
BOSTON (AP) — Leaders of Boston's bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics released details Thursday about insurance proposals they say will provide unprecedented coverage for Massachusetts taxpayers.
The Boston 2024 bid committee released a 13-page document that described at least eight types of insurance it promises to purchase to minimize the risk to taxpayers in the event of unanticipated costs.
Read: Full Plan
The private organization has estimated the insurance will cost about $128 million, which it said it would pay for fully.
Things the insurance policies would cover include:
—Events that are canceled due to such things as natural disaster, terrorism or labor strikes.
—Costs if the sponsor of a game is unable to meet its financial obligations.
— Costs for reduced ticket sales and attendance if events become less appealing because a competing country drops out, impacting advertising or broadcast revenues.
Boston 2024 said it consulted insurance experts, including two companies that have done work for high-profile events such as the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament and the Tour de France.
It said plans to issue a request for proposals to insurance brokers by Aug. 1.
The issue of how city and state taxpayers will be protected financially if the games go over budget has been of concern to Olympics opponents. Boston 2024 organizers have struggled to turn public opinion in their favor ahead of a critical Sept. 15 deadline for the U.S. Olympic Committee to officially submit a bid to the IOC.
Release of the insurance proposals comes as Boston 2024 chairman Steve Pagliuca and U.S. Olympic Committee board member Daniel Doctoroff prepare to square off Thursday night against Chris Dempsey, co-chair of the opposition group No Boston Olympics, and economist Andrew Zimbalist, in a prime-time, televised debate.
The release also follows controversy Wednesday over the group's reluctance to reveal at least two chapters of its original submission to the USOC.
Boston 2024 said late Wednesday it would release a full, unredacted version of the proposal early next week, after Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh publicly called on the privately-funded group to release the information and the City Council debated issuing a city subpoena for the information.
The documents are part of a proposal that ultimately won Boston the right to be considered the nation's representative in an international competition that includes Paris; Rome; Hamburg, Germany; and Budapest, Hungary.
Opponents and council members say the withheld information includes critical financial information impacting taxpayers.
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