Touching upon a few of his Harvard sports moments that have stood the test of time for time, Jim Bell, the coordinator of NBC's Olympic coverage, highlights sitting around in 1988 watching the Olympics on TV. He recalls being struck that he knew someone (Lane MacDonald) who was competing on the same stage the 'miracle on ice' had happened on eight years before. Looking back on the famous game in 1980, he understands now after having worked for a television studio, that it was the power of TV that made the event what it was.
As one of the last TV events enjoyed by entire families, the Olympics have the power to bring different ages and genders together. For this reason, the Olympics are worth about 8 Superbowls to a TV network, which is able to charge advertisers a premium. This makes the Olympics the only major network sports event that is profitable.
Sometimes the television coverage of the Olympics is criticized for not being able to show all of the sports that are taking place, or for not showing a variety of events. This was particularly the case in the Atlanta games. For NBC, the Athens games were a much greater success in presenting the Olympics as a whole. This was seen by over 200 million Americans who watched the games. To give an idea of the scale and requirement of the Olympics for a TV network, over 3.000 NBC employees will be living and working at the upcoming games at Torino, Italy.
|
|