BOSTON—Failure to gain sufficient public support and statements by Mayor Martin Walsh at a Monday morning press conference led to the U.S. Olympic Committee and supporters of Boston's bid for the 2024 Olympic Games to jointly announce that the campaign to site the games in Boston was at an end.

Monday afternoon, the US Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and Boston 2024 Partnership chairman Steve Pagliuca released a joint announcement that Boston was ending its bid to play host for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The US Olympic Committee Board met in Colorado Springs, CO on Monday and was briefed on recent discussions the US Olympic Committee had with Boston 2024 Olympics Partnership chairman Pagliuca, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Walsh. The board also was updated on statements made by the mayor at a Monday morning press conference where the mayor said he would not support the bid if the city had to sign a guarantee to pay for cost overruns.

At his press conference, Mayor Walsh complained that the city was being asked to commit to funding guarantees without knowing the risk. After only a few months since the City of Boston was selected as a possible host city, the mayor said, “I am being asked to commit to sign the guarantee in the Host City Contract, the language of which will not be released until September. We have always anticipated being allowed to negotiate the Host City Contract with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) until the IOC decides on a host city in 2017. This is a commitment that I cannot make without assurances that Boston and its residents will be protected. I refuse to mortgage the future of the city away. I refuse to put Boston on the hook for overruns. And, I refuse to commit to signing a guarantee that uses taxpayer dollars to pay for the Olympics.”

Boston 2024 Partnership chairman Pagliuca, the owner of the Boston Celtics, said that the partnership maintains that the benefits of hosting the games would far outweigh the risks to the City of Boston. However, the partnership felt that the extensive efforts that would be required to garner sufficient support from Boston residents for the bid in the short time frame before the IOC would make the final selection “would detract from the U.S.' ability to compete against strong interest from cities like Rome, Paris, Budapest and Hamburg.” Pagliuca said in his statement, “For this reason, we have jointly decided to withdraw Boston's bid in order to give the Olympic movement in the United States the best chance to bring the games back to our country in 2024.” Pagliuca took over as chairman of the partnership in May.

Despite the Olympics bid withdrawal, Pagliuca said some benefits from the campaign and its Bid 2.0 plan released recently will accrue to the city. “We believe that our planning for the games, including the vision for Widett Circle and Columbia Point, has already benefitted Boston, Mayor Walsh's important 2030 planning process, and other civic conversations around the future of Boston's neighborhoods and economic vitality. It can still advance many of the economic development, housing, infrastructure, and job creation opportunities throughout Boston and the Commonwealth that Bid 2.0 outlined.”

The United States Olympic Committee said it would look to find another U.S. city to be in the running for the 2024 Olympic Games. The committee in its statement said it would provide an update on the search sometime in August. The committee is facing a Sept. 15th deadline to declare its selection of host city to the International Olympic Committee.