Have the Olympics lost their luster?
-
Watching the Olympics a little every day. But it feels more and more natural that people just don’t talk about the Olympics. It felt like a much bigger deal when I was young.
https://www.si.com/.amp/olympics/2022/02/08/nbc-on-track-lowest-tv-ratings-winter-olympics-beijing
-
@approxinfinity same here. Some women’s team, Germany ? got robbed cause of their uniforms? New sport? Just read something about it and our skier, gal that crashed twice. If I watched I’d probably get in to it.
-
Perhaps where its being held and the cluster of issues going on globally have some impact in the why. I’m sure its a part of it but agree the Olympics just doesn’t have the same feeling to it anymore
-
@BeddieKU23 I think it is too fragmented across network and cable and streaming channels. Too freaking hard to plan a schedule to watch, especially when you try to find just a simple grid of events and their finals. The time difference screws everything up. Having events begin before the opening ceremonies didn’t help!
-
Agree on the tv/streaming situation as well has changed things.
-
@BeddieKU23 This.
This Winter Olympics being held where it is has made it an issue. It is being politicized like crazy and people are trying to avoid seeing any of that stupid ish.
Then you have Covid, so people aren’t there in person.
There will be a great revival of the olympics, my guess is in LA in 2028. Just my guess, but by then things should be “normal” plus you’ll see some American heroes made on home turf. Watching these events with basically no crowd takes the air out of it. Felt the same thing when pro and college sports were being played in empty arenas.
-
@Kcmatt7 said in Have the Olympics lost their luster?:
@BeddieKU23 This.
This Winter Olympics being held where it is has made it an issue. It is being politicized like crazy and people are trying to avoid seeing any of that stupid ish.
Then you have Covid, so people aren’t there in person.
There will be a great revival of the olympics, my guess is in LA in 2028. Just my guess, but by then things should be “normal” plus you’ll see some American heroes made on home turf. Watching these events with basically no crowd takes the air out of it. Felt the same thing when pro and college sports were being played in empty arenas.
I’ve heard compelling arguments that we should do away with the Olympic selection committee and just move it to Athens for every event. All the evidence shows most cities end up spending more than they make back and all these new facilities are built then underutilized.
-
@benshawks08 I would be all for that. And it makes total sense. Just look at what Qatar has done to host the 2022 World Cup. How many people have died building those stadiums? Not to mention the illegal kickbacks that I’m sure take place.
-
@benshawks08 said in Have the Olympics lost their luster?:
@Kcmatt7 said in Have the Olympics lost their luster?:
@BeddieKU23 This.
This Winter Olympics being held where it is has made it an issue. It is being politicized like crazy and people are trying to avoid seeing any of that stupid ish.
Then you have Covid, so people aren’t there in person.
There will be a great revival of the olympics, my guess is in LA in 2028. Just my guess, but by then things should be “normal” plus you’ll see some American heroes made on home turf. Watching these events with basically no crowd takes the air out of it. Felt the same thing when pro and college sports were being played in empty arenas.
I’ve heard compelling arguments that we should do away with the Olympic selection committee and just move it to Athens for every event. All the evidence shows most cities end up spending more than they make back and all these new facilities are built then underutilized.
I think there’s a lot to this. And so the result is the only governments that are interested in hosting (especially winter) games are those that don’t have to make any money and aren’t acceptable to the people. So this is how we end up with winter games in noted winter destination… Beijing.
The other part of it, at least to me, is Olympics fatigue. We just had the summer games less than a year ago. And let’s be honest, none of us really watch Olympic sports unless they’re in the Olympics. Hockey, soccer, and baseball are exceptions. But nobody is firing up the tv on a Sunday afternoon to watch figure skating. So take away the anticipation of Olympics and couple that with the really crappy atmosphere and gross feeling of watching them in China and you get meh.
-
I think a lot of it this time around is the massive time difference. 16 hours from where I live. Just makes it way too challenging to figure out what to watch, and when. As an example, I went to bed last night, and expected some events would be on the DVR when I woke up. Hmm, not seeing anything. So now I’m wondering if any events I missed simply weren’t televised and were on Peacock streaming??? Tough.
Plus, there aren’t a ton of big, worldwide names in the usual big events — like it or not as in figure skating. That’s the most watched event. By far probably.
The kids probably watch all the snowboarding events. So maybe any of us who are no longer teenagers aren’t into those events as much. I love the snowboard cross. Crazy.
Short track skating is by far my fav event. 500 and 1000M. If u haven’t watched, do yourself a favor and go back and watch. Total chaos and drama. amazing.
-
I really enjoyed what I think they called snowboard cross yesterday. Also watching Sean Whites last Olympics was riveting to me. Peacocks coverage was excellent and really gave a good feeling of what he was experiencing.
-
Snowboard cross is very fun too!
