Brewer applies for ‘Boston 2024’ trademark, despite Olympic opposition
BOSTON — Even as backers of Boston’s embattled bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games struggle to overcome public opposition, the maker of the city’s Sam Adams beer has jumped into the fray by applying for a “Boston 2024” beer trademark.
The Boston Beer Co has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on the words “Boston 2024,” which would be limited to beer, Jessica Paar, a spokeswoman for the brewery, said on Wednesday.
“We were introduced recently to members of the Boston 2024 Committee and had a very preliminary conversation about collaborating on a special beer in the future,” Paar said. “There’s nothing set in stone. It’s just a fun idea we talked about.”
The Boston 2024 host committee is in the midst of reworking its pitch to the city after polls showed more residents of Boston oppose the idea of hosting the Summer Games than support it.
A poll conducted for WBUR radio by the MassInc Polling Group and released on Wednesday showed 49 percent of respondents opposed the idea of having the Games in Boston. Just 39 percent of the 502 registered Massachusetts voters interviewed between June 4 and 6 supported it.
Opponents of the bid have raised concerns about the spiraling cost of recent Olympic Games, including the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi for which Russia spent more than $50 billion.
Proponents have said the Boston bid would cost just $9.5 billion and would be funded privately rather than with tax revenues.
Backers have called for a statewide ballot initiative in 2016 on whether to go ahead with the bid and said that without majority support, Boston would not challenge rivals including Rome, Paris and Hamburg, Germany, seeking the 2024 Games.
