While people in Boston are hesitant to host the Olympics, Americans across the country overwhelmingly support the idea of the games on home turf, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.
The support decreases when people are asked if they would want the Olympics in their local area. It dips even further when they are asked if public funds should be used to pay for them.
Nearly nine of 10 Americans - 89 per cent - support a bid to host the Olympics somewhere in the United States.
Yet just 61 per cent would support a bid in their local area. Fifty-two per cent of respondents would support an Olympics in their local area if it were paid for with a combination of public and private funds, while 46 per cent would be opposed to either that proposal or a local Olympics.
"Our own research tells us that the Olympic brand is incredibly strong in the United States and it's one of the reasons that we decided to bid for the 2024 Games," US Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.
"This poll confirms that and shows there is a strong desire, from coast to coast, to see the Games return to the US"
But the nationwide numbers do not echo what's happening in Boston, where the effort to host the 2024 Olympics has hit a number of roadblocks. Approval ratings around the city have been grim - well under 50 per cent - and a referendum has been set up for next November. If that vote doesn't win both in the city and the state, organisers have vowed to pull the bid, even though the official deadline to declare a city's candidacy is this September.
That's one of the key issues the US Olympic Committee board will tackle Tuesday at a meeting at which the Boston group will present an update. The USOC recently received poll numbers on a survey it commissioned. The result of those numbers will also factor into whether the board decides to continue with a Boston bid, look elsewhere, or withdraw from the competition completely. A backup plan could be to consider Los Angeles.
One main complaint in Boston is that hosting an Olympics leaves the public vulnerable to footing too much of the bill and is not the proper way to pay for much-needed infrastructure improvements.
Last winter's massive snowstorms shined a light on the city's less-than-ideal transit system and also brought up more general questions about Boston's ability to handle major projects.
Last month, Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca took over as bid leader. Boston has been revamping its bid, spreading some of the venues farther across the state than originally expected, and vowing that there will be more changes between now and September 2017, when the Olympics are awarded. Boston's newest plans will be unveiled Monday.
Paris, Rome and Hamburg, Germany are the other declared candidates.
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