Let's Get Behind Boston

[Greg Derr]

Boston has been selected as the US bidder for the 2024 Olympics. You may think that Massachusetts and Boston is anti shooting, but out state has a great number of competitive shooters and a tradition of producing Olympic shooters going back to 1896. Please join me in supporting out Olympic bid for the game.

[william]

Greg,
Boston is a great city and has all sorts of things to recommend it, but....

It's way too small physically to support all the required Olympic venues, to say nothing of accommodations for the athletes.
It has a transportation system that can best be described as "quaint."
The city and the commonwealth really do have more pressing needs than the huge money pit that is being an Olympic host city.

And finally....
The presence of a few shooting events (which will receive virtually no television exposure) will do nothing to change the prevailing sentiments toward guns.

Let L.A. have the bid, and let Boston get a replacement for that miserable antique - Fenway Park.

[batty]

the British government is "anti Pistol" yet we still got London 2012

[Rover]

Maybe Boston can try bribing the IOC, like Utah did a few years back. Certainly they're not noted their lack of graft and corruption.

[william]

Maybe Boston can try bribing the IOC, like Utah did a few years back. Certainly they're not noted their lack of graft and corruption.

Graft, corruption AND Mitt Romney

[j-team]

the British government is "anti Pistol" yet we still got London 2012

Hmmm... Then they quickly bulldozed it all and carried on as if it never happened!

Compare that to Munich. 42 years after hosting the Olympics, they still have the best range in the world and it gets used!

[BobGee]

Ditto Sydney, albeit only 15 years. It's now a real concern as to how long the Sydney International Shooting Complex/Centre will keep going. The clay target section is well used but the 10, 25 and 50m ranges don't appear to get economic useage. All those electronic targets require significant maintenance and local (NSW) regulation requires a certain number of ROs. Fortunately it was constructed out of low maintenance materials - concrete, galvanised steel, Australian hardwoods, etc. The location of the Centre doesn't help - a bit out in the boonies. Great venue though. Hope it will last a few more years at least.

[6string]

Why bother? They'll just demolish the facility like Wolf Creek in Atlanta, only sooner.
Pure waste of tax dollars.

Unless there is a binding agreement that guarantees the ongoing access and maintenance of the ranges for all shooters in the host country, I hope they never host an Olympic games in the USA ever.

[sparky]

Hope Boston doesn't get it for their sake. The Olympics are a horrible deal for most cities. They have to lay out a *ton* of money to build the venues that are usually used only once before being scrapped.

[Gwhite]

One of the claims is that they will use a lot of existing facilities at local universities. Yes, there are lots of them in the Boston area, and they have lots of tracks & the like, but NONE of them are set up to deal with the enormous number of spectators required. Everything is packed in pretty tight as well, and land anywhere near the city is very expensive, so they can't exactly take an existing field & expand the spectator seating. There has been a heavy push for decades to expand Fenway Park (the Boston Red Sox baseball field). It is smack dab in the middle of the city, and there is no place to get an extra inch of land around the field without spending staggering amounts of money to displace businesses sitting on prime real estate.

I don't think the whole thing was particularly well thought out, and I find it unimaginable that they can put together a realistic plan on how it is all going to work. I would also be surprised if the planners have given any thought to the need for a new shooting facility. They certainly don't have one anywhere that could be easily modified. There are lots of ranges at various clubs, but they are small, with zero accommodation for spectators.

I'm sure a solution could be found for any one sport, but all of them? If the plan is to have events scattered all over the area at Universities, the transportation problems will be enormous, trying to shuttle all the visitors around from one event to the next.

[william]

Hey, Doug, how does this work?

House all the athletes, support staff and media in and around Boston and build the actual competition venues here in Southern New Hampshire. There is plenty of land; everybody will enjoy shopping with no sales tax; and those of an appropriate age can take advantage of our low cost cigarettes and liquor.

Transportation to and from venues will be handled by the highly efficient (and imaginary) light rail system. The entire plan is as connected to reality as the rail line - pure fantasy. Let the Germans have the party!

[Mike M.]

I was hoping for Washington, I think we could have built a permanent range for the shooting events. Having said that, I think a European city will have the inside track.

[conradin]

Don't see any point or difference unless the bidding city has a long distance range that can bring back 300m competition. Besides, the public don't give a damn about shooting anyway, they don't even know it is an Olympic sport.