On the Olympics and Ratings...

[acroyear]

Olympic Idols:

NBC, the network that has over time invested billions of dollars in Olympic coverage, has taken a beating in the TV ratings on nights when these Winter Games were up against several popular shows -- most notably the amateur entertainment contest "American Idol" and the offbeat series "Desperate Housewives." ("Idol," especially, has become a national phenomenon, an un-Olympian event in which just about anyone can compete and unfortunately often does, in the manner of a new skier tumbling head over heels the whole length of the downhill course and getting a unanimous verdict from the judges at the bottom: "zero.")

WTOP also addressed this in their "talkback" question yesterday - "Why are the olympics tanking in the ratings".  And I think this hits it: sports are no longer "reality" in the face of "reality tv".  Individual sports are increasingly not something the couch potato can relate to anymore.  America is a "team" country, and individual merit is no longer worth what the "team" (with strong individuals as its backbone) means (with the oddball exception being NASCAR, but that's as much for the worship of cars in this country as anything else).

When Survivor or Idol are on TV, people can watch that and think "I could be in there", and then are able engage with the program by guessing what they would do in such a situation.  That engagement is key to return viewers, and the Olympics (*either* season) can't get that engagement anymore.  Its not something someone can just get up and do.  I can't just go "hey, I wanna do skeleton" - the equipment, the kit, the insurance, and finally the commute to some place that actually supports it (meaning they have their own insurance, too) being potentially *days* away, means its just not something someone can say "hey, I can do that!".  So the disconnect is there.

Olympic athletes are perceived as the elite at a time when America is worshipping the (worst) examples of the "common man" (well, person).  Just as they can't deal with what they see as elitism in science, they can't deal with what they see as elitism in athletics anymore.

And in both cases, the "elitism" is only in their minds.  Its less on the minds of the athletes (Bode Miller not withstanding) than it is with America's real sports heroes in baseball, basketball, and football...

Comments

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I also think that the coverage sucks overall. First off, half of the stuff is on a time delay so you're not actually watching it live. Secondly, you're actually watching the commercials with occasional breaks for Olympics.

But I do agree that the US is getting more sedentary and there is the money factor. If you want to be competitive in figure skating or gymnastics, you've got to shell out the $$$ for the right coaches and be members of the right schools to even have a shot.

In the equestrian events, it's all about money, which puts it out of range for the vast majority of people. It used to be that you could get a decent horse for relatively cheap and train it to Olympic level, esp. in eventing. Now, it's become a breed game and people who have the most money can afford to buy Olympic champions which your average backyard horse can't begin to compete with, no matter how much training you've got.

On the bright side, I was reading online the other day that Verizon sponsors try-outs for bobsled and skeleton. They are looking for track atheletes and if you make the cut, they will ship you off to training camps and provide all your equipment. I wondered how people got into bobsledding. Home Depo has a program that will give you a flexible 20 hour a week job but pay you full-time if you are training. Not a bad deal either.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

can you break away from work to see the 8pm Italian time figure skating at 2pm?

whether you Tivo it or NBC assembles a cut, you're still going to have a time-delay.

it'll be worse in 2010 in Vancouver - 8pm events will be on at 11pm on the east coast, so when does NBC decide to actually show it? Will they run them live (lose ratings and be forced to show a lot of crappy runs along with the good ones) or will they make a cut and show it prime time the next day (by which time, its old news, as the Today Show morning coverage will already have had to spoil it with interviews with the winners)?

The '84 Olympics really hurt the ratings game because of losing the east coast on the highlight events (our last time with a decent Men's gymnastics team for 20 years) which were run live at 11pm eastern time, running well into 3am for some competitions.

There really is no choice - the amount of people who can break away from work and watch it live (and endure the crappy runs to get to the good ones, and for that matter, would be willing to do so) is so small simply isn't financially viable for a network to do that in this country.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

They still have to learn how to ride the horse (witness the Japanese who bought a $500,000 stallion to compete in Barcelona in dressage ... it didn't help their score when the horse jumped out of the ring).

Actually, Dressage is the biggie for "Breed Rules". Show jumping has horses from all breeds because it is not at all arbitrary. Does the horse get over the fence. Yes, certain breeds are showing up more and more and to some extent, certain types of horse are being selected for by the course designer (stride length being a BIG factor).

With Combined Training, you can still do fairly well with a backyard horse IF you select it carefully. The change in the roads-tracks rules will change things some but I think a backyard OTT TB cross with something with brains and substance will still give you a good horse. I know someone who has an el cheapo auction App QH that she bred to an RID for her next competition horse (the App QH will be going back to work when the foal is weaned). Well she make the Olympics with either horse? Not likely but not due to lack of horse, more lack of desire to compete at that level. She wants to make it to Intermediate eventually.

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

Combined training is favoring the big warmbloods because the jumps are getting bigger and more complicated to deal with the shorter courses. I remember watching it 20 years ago and thinking, "those jumps aren't that bad. I could do that," and now I look at the courses and think, "Insanity."

Fortunately, the "baroque" horses like Andulusians, Lippanzaner, and Iberians are making a comeback. People are finding that horses with long backs and gorgeous extended trots tend to blow their hocks and suspensories out whereas horses that have good collection tend to stay sound longer. Invasor, an Andulusian on the Spanish team, competed at 16 at the last Olympics and it was his 3rd Olympics. I don't know of any warmbloods that could have done that.

Anyway, the sport will die a miserable death if "normal" people think they can't compete. It's bad enough that it takes many years to train a dressage horse and rider. For less time and just as much money, you could buy a champion hunter and clean up in the show ring. This is why there are far more hunter types than dressage types. :)