Boston officials "wicked excited" to move forward on 2024 Olympic bid

BOSTON -- Boston officials are celebrating the city's selection as the U.S. nominee for the 2024 Olympics.

Now they begin work on convincing the IOC to send the Summer Games to the Hub.

Boston beat San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington on Thursday to be the USOC's choice for the American bid. A day later, bid officials spoke to reporters at Boston's shiny convention center along with Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

Walsh announced the first nine community meetings to discuss plans with residents. He vowed to make the bid process the most transparent in Olympic history. Baker reminded residents that this is just the start of the process.

Bid chairman John Fish dipped into the local dialect, saying he is "wicked excited."

Baker and Walsh also tried to calm skeptics who fear public money will be misspent in an international process that has been plagued in the past by corruption, CBS Boston reports.

"I promise this will be the most open, inclusive and transparent process in Olympic history," Walsh said, adding that taxpayer dollars will not be used to build venues in the city of Boston.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says Boston will be a "strong" contender to host the 2024 Games.

Bach says in a statement today "the Boston bid will be a strong one."

The U.S. hasn't hosted the Summer Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta. New York failed in a bid for the 2012 Games, and Chicago was rejected for 2016.

Bach says Boston's bid "has the great potential to build on the strength of the athletes from the US Olympic Team."

Boston joins Rome as the only other city that has officially decided to bid.

CBS Boston reports that the protest group, No Boston Olympics, promised to keep fighting Friday, stressing that the state's priorities should include safe communities, quality education and responsible environmental policies.

"That's why we need your continued support as we move forward. Please join us for a public meeting on Wednesday, January 16th to be held in Boston or Cambridge. And its not just Metro Boston residents who should join, but citizens and taxpayers in Worcester, Springfield, North Adams, Dartmouth, and Lowell - citizens across the Commonwealth who will bear the risk from the promises Boston2024 has made to the USOC, all without public input," the group said in a statement.