The 2020
Summer Tokyo Olympics were postponed until this year, due to the pandemic. But what about current
pandemic issues? Now consider the 2022 Beijing Winter Games coming in February. That’s a more complicated question.
Let’s first start with a potential resurgence of the pandemic
virus in this summer's Tokyo games. The numbers are a big issue for thousands of athletes, spectators and participants. Government officials have yet to talk about restricting attendance. Reports say
many of Japan’s citizens aren't vaccinated.
Now, look several months out to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. It’s still possible the virus may make havoc there, too. And
that’s not the end of that story.
The issue of alleged human-rights violations by China is something nations are considering n terms of a response. The word “boycott” has
been floated.
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For its part, after some conflicting reports, the U.S. State Department says this is not the case. While they are not talking boycott, they have specific concerns over human rights.
The Olympics is a massive
moneymaking machine for NBCUniversal, which airs the two-week event every other year.
It regularly pulls in $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion in national TV advertising per event, with the Summer
Games earning a bit more than the Winter Games. It is also a major marketing platform for U.S. companies.
Let’s talk boycotts: In 1980, the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Summer Games in
response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. In turn, the Soviet Union boycotted the Los Angeles Summer Olympics Games in 1984, claiming its athletes would not be safe
from protests and possible physical attacks.
Concerning TV coverage, NBC aired far fewer images of the Moscow games than the planned 150-hour coverage. Many NBC affiliates even refused to air
highlights in their local news coverage.
For NBCUniversal, there’s a bigger picture about sports content going forward -- a least over the next nine months.
The media company
does well with the NFL’s “Sunday Night Football.” But beyond that, there is much less high-profile sports stuff that can be monetized in a big way. In fact, at the end of this year,
it is abandoning NBCSN, its national sports TV channel.
By way of comparison, the only thing rivaling this is the $450 million or $500 million take from the Super Bowl. NBC is one of a handful
of TV networks to get this plum assignment every couple of years, along with ABC, Fox and CBS.
At last count -- March 2020 -- NBC totaled $1.25 billion in national TV ad spend for the Tokyo
Games. So, for the TV network group and U.S. based TV marketers, now what?