Behind The Mic With Joe Mathieu: Boston Summer Olympics?

BOSTON (CBS) - At first blush it sounds great.

The Boston Summer Olympics.

I can already imagine the theme song with sweeping images of the Boston skyline.

Our town on the world stage.

Take that New York!

And the pitch for hosting the Games goes way beyond image. A bill just passed in the state Senate suggests the Olympics would also bring new investments in our infrastructure and thousands of new jobs.

The movement behind this proposal already has its own web site and Twitter handle @boston2024.

But before we get too carried away let's deal with reality for a moment.

First of all, there's an application fee of as much as $8 million and it's non-refundable.

While that money is supposed to come from the private sector just imagine what else the city could do with it. But that's chump change compared with what we would spend if we actually won the bid.

That is why this bill also refers to the "economic risk" that would come with the Olympics.

And that brings us to the next reality check.

Would we have to build new stadiums? And where would the Olympic Village go?

We have the Charles River so at least rowing is covered. But I cannot imagine where the rest of these facilities and people would go.

Unless we banned cars from the city.

Or unless the games were regional. And that may be the way this story ends.

The bill passed this week – which creates a commission to study the feasibility of all this – also allows for the Games to be spread around other states like Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

I realize it may not have the same ring as the "Boston Summer Olympics" but if it means solving the money problems and helps to prevent more congestion I could warm-up to the idea of the "New England Summer Olympics" too.

Follow Joe on Twitter @joemathieuwbz