Cambridge Vice Mayor Sheila P. Russell agrees.

"It would bring a lot to the community, but I don't know if Boston could handle it," she says.

But BOC Board of Advisors Chair John Hamill says the city's transportation resources could handle the massive influx. Such large crowds are "taken for granted" in a tourist and transportation hub like Boston, he says.

And Hamill and other backers say several advantages make Boston perfect for the 2008 events.

"Boston is a likely contender because it has unique advantages," Rowe says. "All the universities are close to each other, it already has the needed housing capabilities. There are a multitude of advantages that the Cambridge-Boston community can offer."

Boston, with its detailed feasibility report and plan, is well advanced in the planning process. In 1997, American cities must present their bids to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), since only one U.S. city can get the USOC endorsement.

"Compared to the progress of other cities that have bid for the Olympics, an astonishing amount of work has already been accomplished for an event that still lies some 14 years in the future," Hamill says in the BOC's feasibility report for the Boston Olympics.

The USOC picks a site based on 15 criteria, including political and meteorological climate. According to the BOC's feasibility report, Boston should be a winner on all 15.

The city offers two daily newspapers, for instance, as well as an airport, public transportation system, supporting universities and most of the needed athletic facilities.

Hamill says the Games will cost roughly $1.2 billion to stage, but he says the money will be available from ticket sales, broadcast licensing, private donations, and possible corporate sponsorships from local businesses like Reebok, Inc.

And the report pitches Boston's history and intellectual prominence as possible appeals for the Olympic selection committee.

"Boston encompasses a history of the nation," the report says. "What could be more appropriate than to have the best athletes of the world compete in such a place?"

Long-Term Effort

Planning for the Boston Games began four years ago in June 1990. The BOC was founded by six people, says BOC Executive Director Rikk Larsen.

It emerged from a "series of discussions in which we discussed the changing millennium of 2000 and a desire to celebrate the human spirit," Larsen says. "What better way to celebrate the human spirit than through the Olympics?"