USOC questions Massachusetts governor

Associated Press

BOSTON

The U.S. Olympic Committee wants to know where the governor of Massachusetts stands on the Boston Olympics. His answer: Still crunching the numbers.

Gov. Charlie Baker refused to take a position on the city’s troubled bid for the 2024 Games on Friday, even after receiving a request from USOC leaders to let them know as soon as possible.

“I get the fact that everybody would love us to just sort of say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ today, and I appreciate the fact that the timing in all of this is frustrating,” Baker said at a news conference, where he fielded several questions about Boston 2024.

A person familiar with the bid told The Associated Press the USOC had asked Baker for an answer by the end of the day Friday. That person asked for anonymity because the communications with the governor were confidential.

Asked about his contact with the USOC, Baker said the committee’s leaders had a meeting scheduled Monday, and “I’m planning to call them on Monday.”

“But my message to them is going to be the same as my message is to you: We hired (a consulting group) because we wanted their opinion and we wanted an expert opinion and a full-blown analysis,” Baker said.

The report from that group, The Brattle Group, isn’t expected until next month.

“This is a 10-year decision and I wouldn’t be doing the taxpayers ... or the city of Boston or the Olympics or anybody else any favors if we made this decision with anything less than the full report from the Brattle Group,” Baker said.