Keller: What is Boston missing by not hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics?
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
BOSTON - The Summer Olympic Games that start next week in Paris were supposed to be held in Boston, until public outcry forced the city to withdraw. So what are we missing?
Paris residents in a "panic" as Olympics begin
If you decided not to go to France for the games you made a smart move. Tourists are already complaining about the logistical nightmare caused by the event; "we have to get a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower just to get a glimpse of it," says one tourist.
And some locals are in a "panic" about disruption of their daily lives, including hospitals worried about security barriers impeding their operations.
Terrorism, stress on the transportation system, protest activity - just a few of the problems officials are bracing for. Anti-Israel protests have been a regular occurrence, and an Olympic official says Israeli atheletes are reeiving threats even before they arrive.
The sight of Ukrainian athletes - many of whom had to take the train to Paris because air travel is too dangerous -displaying damage done to their stadiums by Russian missiles makes you wonder what parallel universe Olympic Games chief Thomas Bach is living in when he suggests the Games may "inspire all the political leaders of the world to finally take action for peace."
Boston didn't need notoriety or added tourism
By the way, if Boston were hosting the Games this year, who would be in charge of security? The Secret Service, that's who.
And remember, along with the competition, the modern-day Games are about the bread. Not baguettes, but the kind of costs that prompted Boston to back out nine years ago, a move that's looking better and better in light of a recent study University of Oxford/Said Business School study of the Paris preparations that found cost overruns of 115% and counting.
There's no question that the Games attract lots of tourist spending and put the host city in the international spotlight. But cities like Boston and Paris don't really need the notoriety or added tourism.
And it's worth noting that after the Boston debacle, the International Olympic Committee unveiled all sorts of new policies aimed at making the Games cheaper to stage. That Oxford study we cited found that promise is already broken for Paris, with the same result expected for future hosts.
