Cost Of Olympic Games Deters Potential Host Boston

On Monday, the US Olympic Committee

that it would replace Boston with another US city in the nation's bid to host the 2024 Olympic games. The Massachusetts city would have been up against places like Paris, Rome and Budapest to host the games, but ultimately concerns about sky high costs kept Boston lawmakers from getting behind the bid.

Despite the fact that Boston beat out cities like Los Angels, Washington and San Francisco last January to become the US' top choice for the summer games, the city's residents weren't convinced that hosting the games was in their best interest. The cost of construction and operations was forecast to come in over $8.6 billion, a burden most believed that the city's tax payers would have to shoulder. Supporters of Boston Olympics promised to set up a $2 billion insurance fund that would cover unanticipated costs, but polls showed that more than half of the city's residents were not in support of holding the games.

The rising costs of hosting an Olympic Games has weighed on many policymakers as more often than not, the price to put on the event outweighs the potential benefits. As budgets to hold the games increase, overspending becomes more and more detrimental leading some cities to buckle under the pressure.

Earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

that he was canceling plans to build an awe-inspiring stadium that was set to serve as the focal point of the 2020 Olympics, set to be held in Tokyo. The stadium was canceled after the cost to build it surpassed $2 billion and polls showed that 81 percent of Japanese residents opposed the structure. The 2012 games in London

cost around £9.3 billion, more than double what they city had planned to spend in its official bid.