Ahead of Olympics call, Baker says position unchanged

When he calls into the U.S. Olympic Committee on Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker will not alter his wait-and-see approach to the Boston Olympics bid, he said on his way out of the State House on Monday morning.

Asked what the USOC wanted to hear from him, Baker said, "You'd have to ask them. I don't know. I'm calling because they asked me to."

Most elected officials have declined to come down firmly for or against the proposal to host the Summer Games in Boston in 2024.

Asked what he would tell the group, Baker said, "What I've said before, which is that I'm not making any official or definitive statements about this until I collect the report from The Brattle Group - which is something by the way that's been our position now, and the Senate president and the House speaker's position for the better part of the past four or five months."

Baker has previously said The Brattle Group report would be made public in mid-August. The USOC did not respond to requests for information on Monday morning, though other news media have reported the entity is seeking support from the governor for the ailing Boston bid when he calls into the meeting on Monday.

U.S. Olympic Committee members meeting in California in late June reportedly expressed hope that public support for the bid in Massachusetts would grow in the coming months.

"We have always said that the success of this bid will require majority public support and the unified backing of state and city political leadership," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said in a statement on Friday.

Citing the opposition in Massachusetts, some commentators have advocated for the USOC to switch horses to Los Angeles ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline for cities to declare their intentions to the International Olympic Committee.

On Monday, Baker is attending the funeral of Marine Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, who was one of the soldiers killed by a gunman in Chattanooga, Tenn. in an attack on military facilities there.

According to WWLP, a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. in Holy Cross Church in Springfield followed by the sergeant's burial in the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam.

Baker is calling the USOC at 9:30 a.m., according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Guyton.

The governor is scheduled to meet with legislative leaders at 2 p.m. on Monday.

Antonio Caban contributed reporting.

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