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Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

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Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#31

Post by airstrike »

distribot wrote: post #27
airstrike wrote: post #17

It made more sense before globalization. It was a chance to consider going to some unexpected destination, bringing people together from all nations. Maybe take your spouse or your kids with you, go on a cruise, hire a tour guide, grab a book with some tips and short phrases in the local language and embark on an exciting adventure. In the 21st century, we interact with the rest of the world on a daily basis. You can…

I agree that you can learn more facts about place than you can by visiting for a few days, I think this is kind of misleading. I've mostly interacted with the world through the internet and have a decent sense for other cultures, world leaders, political systems, leading exports, types of food, etc but the <20 days I've spent abroad really feel like much richer experiences and were very eye opening. I think globalism…

As an immigrant and International Relations major (forever ago), I definitely believe in the value of traveling. But I also believe in "living like a local" wherever you go to truly experience what that place is about... which is virtually impossible during any global event like the Olympics or the football World Cup

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#32

Post by colordrops »

One aspect is that NBC has a lock on the Olympics for the US. Their streaming service is utter trash - unreliable, bad quality video, confusing menus (couldn't even figure out how to watch live events), rewind and fast forward don't have preview (at least on Roku), so you have no idea where to stop, no overlays describing any details of the stream, no editing of recorded events (i.e. 45 minutes of a zamboni cleaning the ice), etc.

Also, NBC seems to be working for the State Department in trashing China at every turn. Yes, China commits human rights abused, but this is a gold standard case of the pot calling the kettle black. The US is one of the biggest human rights abusers out there. The Olympics is about setting that aside for a moment. The US should have either boycotted the olympics or shut up about the politics.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#33

Post by unfocussed_mike »

> Nowadays, it kind of feels like Olympics are just annoying. Propaganda fest for authoritarian regimes.

It really always was. I mean, people were actually murdered for political reasons at the Olympics in 1972. And much of the visual imagery of the Olympics, including the torch procession, has as much to do with Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl as it does sporting achievement. And then it went through a significant period where it was really a proxy for the Cold War.

The Olympics has always had a whiff of fascism about it (not least because of Juan Antonio Samaranch) and in many ways operates now as a sort of corporatist sledgehammer for major legal change, as does Fifa.

> No one cares. Heck, some people don’t even know that the Olympics are even happening.

There's more on the telly. But we care in Britain; the (Summer) Olympics has become a way for us to demonstrate outsize capability. Less so the Winter Olympics, which has never been a big deal for most of the world; just a few countries with permanent snow.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#35

Post by lokar »

PaulHoule wrote: post #7

The model of "go to a new place every four years, build an Olympic village and a bunch of athletic facilities" doesn't work economically. It doesn't make enough money in the short term, and the facilities don't get enough use in the long term to justify it either. That makes it hard for a city in a free society to want to be the host. The costs are very real but the benefits are elusive. Probably the last time the Ol…

It seems like there was this crazy escalation of spending promises to win the bid. At some point responsible democracies dropped out, the irresponsible democracies, so all that was left were authoritarian nations looking to improve their image without changing.

Now it seems like even the authoritarian nations are deciding it's to expensive and you see responsible democracies getting back in with more realistic bids.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#36

Post by jasode »

>When I was a kid, we use to look forward to the Olympics. It was a big deal. The whole family would gather around the TV to watch the events live regardless of timezone. [...] Nowadays, [...] No one cares. Heck, some people don’t even know that the Olympics are even happening.

It seems like the macro trend of network television spectacle events is on the decline and probably due to the internet. The decline in ratings happens across many domains:

- sports: NFL Super Bowl football viewership declines[1], MLB baseball, NASCAR racing, Olympics, etc

- awards shows: Academy Awards, Grammy Awards

- morning shows and evening newscasts on all networks NBC/ABC/CBS, etc

Both the internet (Netflix, Youtube, etc) and a demographic shift means events like the Olympics is not a big deal anymore. Yes, the Olympics committee has scandals but everything on network tv has been on a long term decline.

The 1950s television sets shifted audiences out of movie theaters. The 1940s era of "Gone With The Wind" and "Casablanca" represented the peak movie theater attendance for % of population. Now the internet is shifting audiences away from tv specials including the Olympics.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/sports/football/super-bow....

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#37

Post by echelon »

PaulHoule wrote: post #7

The model of "go to a new place every four years, build an Olympic village and a bunch of athletic facilities" doesn't work economically. It doesn't make enough money in the short term, and the facilities don't get enough use in the long term to justify it either. That makes it hard for a city in a free society to want to be the host. The costs are very real but the benefits are elusive. Probably the last time the Ol…

The Atlanta Olympics made money.

The event had commercial sponsors such as Coke and McDonald's plastered everywhere, which was derided at the time. The opening ceremony even prominently featured Chevy pickup trucks [1].

Nearly all of the newly built facilities were then reused as Georgia Tech dormitories, professional sporting stadiums, local high school facilities, etc.

It was a huge inflection point for the city's growth.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=26m16s&v=4n0a-yNO8fE up to the "How Y'all Doin'!" at 30:04

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#38

Post by dekhn »

What I'd love is a single HD video for each sport which is just the competitors competing. No commercials, no announcements, no human-interest. In fact you could trim out everything but the top three performances and I'd be fine. Even then, it's not something I'd watch for more than 10 minutes.

Re: Ask HN: What caused the Olympics to become so terrible?

#40

Post by el_nahual »

I don't know where you live, but my experience is that in the US, the network coverage just ruined the Olympics because they don't "get it."

I grew up in a different country--not the US, China or Russia. We typically hope to get a half dozen medals and a gold would be a Big Deal.

As a result, if you turn on the TV, you get random coverage of any of the hundreds of individual competitions. Modern pentathlon! The one where they jump on a trampoline! Handball!

There are so many sports that it's non-stop coverage. Also, because it's live, whenever someone from your home country has a chance to medal it's a big deal: everyone stops doing what they are doing to watch TV. Collectively. It's an "event".

It's really fun and--this is key-- emotional. Not just to watch your country medal but all of the other sports, winners, losers, etc.

In the US the TV coverage is garbage. It's 100% US-centric, which would be excusable (if shortsighted, because it's less fun and emotional). Worse, it's not even live, which makes it less special. And they don't show any sports where the US isn't competitive, which makes it less novel and fun.

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