Olympic Events: Held Mid-Day?

[clairecloutier]

So this is kind of off-topic (well, it is off-topic), but is anyone else surprised by the timing of the North American skaters' trips to Korea? I feel like most of the skaters are leaving quite late. Zack Donohue said in their press call yesterday that they're leaving in a bit less than a week, which sounds like maybe Tuesday? Bradie Tennell isn't leaving until Monday, and she's almost certain to compete in the team event, which starts next Thursday. Meanwhile the Russian team is already acclimatizing to the time zone in Japan. I suppose I'm probably being a worrywart.

 

[Rock2]

I'm reading some financial statement notes from 2015/16 and there is some interesting commentary that may still be applicable today but regardless will help show the bigger picture:
*TV revenue is stable
*Sponsorship revenue is declining across both sports. ISU lost the title sponsor for Speed Skating and didn't have prospects to replace
*Global prospects for sponsorship revenue are concerning at all levels of support.
*Although ISU cash reserves are very good there is significant threat to a downward spiral of eating into reserves because sponsorship money is drying up (I'm hearing this everywhere. Companies just aren't spending anymore)
*Increased expenses relating to doping investigation
*Significantly increased legal fees related to doping and other matters
*Given above, liability insurance premiums going up
*General outlook is a lot of risk to an otherwise stable financial position. Doesn't mean it will be realized but it's being called out

So yeah....need to control expenses. And, looks like the P&Ls of Figure and Speed Skating aren't kept completely separate.

 

[skatingguy]

So this is kind of off-topic (well, it is off-topic), but is anyone else surprised by the timing of the North American skaters' trips to Korea? I feel like most of the skaters are leaving quite late. Zack Donohue said in their press call yesterday that they're leaving in a bit less than a week, which sounds like maybe Tuesday? Bradie Tennell isn't leaving until Monday, and she's almost certain to compete in the team event, which starts next Thursday. Meanwhile the Russian team is already acclimatizing to the time zone in Japan. I suppose I'm probably being a worrywart.

Ladies & Ice Dance don't compete until Sunday so they'll still have plenty of time to adjust.

 

[Skittl1321]

So this is kind of off-topic (well, it is off-topic), but is anyone else surprised by the timing of the North American skaters' trips to Korea? I feel like most of the skaters are leaving quite late. Zack Donohue said in their press call yesterday that they're leaving in a bit less than a week, which sounds like maybe Tuesday? Bradie Tennell isn't leaving until Monday, and she's almost certain to compete in the team event, which starts next Thursday. Meanwhile the Russian team is already acclimatizing to the time zone in Japan. I suppose I'm probably being a worrywart.

They might not have money to get overseas so early. Hotel rooms, practice ice, coaches fees- it all costs money.

 

[skatingguy]

They might not have money to get overseas so early. Hotel rooms, practice ice, coaches fees- it all costs money.

The USOC & USFSA would be paying for that. They'll be providing the resources the athletes need, so I would think that the athletes could go when they were ready, and that financial issues would not be a consideration in that decision.

 

[VGThuy]

They probably don’t want to leave too early because I’m imagining they’re making the most use of the available ice time at home.

 

[Rock2]

It's not just about acclimating but it's also about getting ice time to stay primed.
I'm sure if you look at the practice schedule, you don't get practice ice until 3-5 days before your event. So you have to come up with cash to find somewhere to stay and pay for ice which I have to think is not widely available and prob very $$ in that area of the world.

I'm no expert but you prob want to be there 5-7 days before you compete...no less. Gives you a couple days to get settled and adjusted to the time before your practice ice becomes availble.

So many things to balance....I'm sure it's carefully considered and planned.

 

[Skittl1321]

The USOC & USFSA would be paying for that. They'll be providing the resources the athletes need, so I would think that the athletes could go when they were ready, and that financial issues would not be a consideration in that decision.

But the USOC and the USFSA have to get the money from somewhere too.

 

[skatingguy]

But the USOC and the USFSA have to get the money from somewhere too.

The USOC is not short on funds. It receives a significant portion of the money that NBC pays the IOC, in addition to its own corporate sponsors.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

The USOC is not short on funds. It receives a significant portion of the money that NBC pays the IOC, in addition to its own corporate sponsors.

"Not short on funds" and spending them with the USOC's definition of "efficiently and properly" (and who knows what the thinking that goes into that in the USOC is, regardless of (ETA) what we as observers of the sport think) are 2 different things.

 

[skatingguy]

"Not short on funds" and spending them with the USOC's definition of "efficiently and properly" (and who knows what the thinking that goes into that in the USOC is, regardless of we as observers of the sport think) are 2 different things.

I understand what you're saying, it's just that this is the event - the Olympics - which the USOC will base it's sponsorship for the next four years and so they're not going to do anything that would risk the athletes performance. If Tennell, and her team, wanted to be in Korea two weeks before the Olympics the USOC would have made it happen, but more than likely she wanted to continue to train in a familiar environment where she could maintain a regular training schedule. If she's leaving early next week she'll still have the better part of a week to adjust to the timezone change and be ready to compete Sunday morning in the team event, assuming she's even competing in the short program of the team event.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

I understand what you're saying, it's just that this is the event - the Olympics - which the USOC will base it's sponsorship for the next four years and so they're not going to do anything that would risk the athletes performance. If Tennell, and her team, wanted to be in Korea two weeks before the Olympics the USOC would have made it happen, but more than likely she wanted to continue to train in a familiar environment where she could maintain a regular training schedule. If she's leaving early next week she'll still have the better part of a week to adjust to the timezone change and be ready to compete Sunday morning in the team event, assuming she's even competing in the short program of the team event.

I don't disagree at all. Sadly, however, organizational thinking at many sports associations has been exposed to be far more focused on benefits to those in the bureaucracy and less (if, indeed, at all) on the concerns for the athletes over the last several years.

 

[MacMadame]

I think the US networks have always been much more aggressive in bidding for the Olympics, particularly back in the '90's when the Olympics used to move between different US networks. The competition created bidding wars that were ultimately won by NBC, which now has the long term deal with the IOC.

Yes, but I was asking about ISU tv contracts which do not include the Olympics.

So this is kind of off-topic (well, it is off-topic), but is anyone else surprised by the timing of the North American skaters' trips to Korea? I feel like most of the skaters are leaving quite late.

All these skaters have experience dealing with competing in other time zones and know their own bodies as well. Unless they are arriving a day or two before their main event, I wouldn't worry about it.

It really shouldn't take them 2 weeks to adjust either. I think it just seems like it's leaving it until later because the Olympics will be going on. After all, skaters arrive for their GP events at the beginning of the week and no one worries they are leaving it too late.

 

[WildRose]

The North Korean Pairs team is already at the Olympics, staying in the athletes village and practicing. US skaters probably just want more time training at home.

 

[Vagabond]

The North Korean Pairs team is already at the Olympics, staying in the athletes village and practicing.

Where would *you* rather be? Pyongyang or Gangneung?

 

[Steph]

I think you missed the basic point there.

Apparently, it's more important for it to be convenient for the US east coast than for the people actually hosting - or the rest of the world.

I live a quick stroll from the 2010 hockey and ceremonies venues. The Olympics are about/for the host city to the extent that they turn it into a broadcast location. You're basically living on a militarized film set. It's the weirdest experience to watch your home Games on television, meanwhile listening to the helicopters overhead, having worked around all the security checkpoints to get home.

Love sport, love the idea of the Olympics, loathe the political economy of the Olympics.

 

[Steph]

You have never read an angry Canucks fan post when the Team plays The Leafs at HOME.

At least in the US, westcoasters don't complain about early start times because they are too angry about TAPED NBC OLYMPIC BROADCASTS.

Or the Bruins at home, in the Stanley Cup Final. And now I'm irretrievably off-topic, and will go complain about Gary Bettman on twitter instead

 

[MacMadame]

I went to the LA Olympics in '84 because they were local. I was poor and couldn't buy a lot of tickets but was able to drive up to see a few things and it was really fun. And in SLC in 2002, we spent a lot of time downtown and talked to a lot of locals. Many didn't have tickets but had driven in from nearby towns and were going to all the free stuff and scoring tickets here and there. They were having a blast.

I think we don't really know how the locals in Pyongyang feel about having the Olympics or the tv schedule. Maybe they'll be like the ones I met in Salt Lake City or maybe they'll be like @Steph Smith and be all grumpy.

 

[WildRose]

Where would *you* rather be? Pyongyang or Gangneung?

LOL, I’m sure they are very happy to be there, but it’s not like they were given a choice, they arrived with the rest of the North Korean contingent and “0fficials” who are also minders. I only meant that the venues are open for practice and the athletes village is open for athletes to use whenever it works best for them to come. There is no right or wrong time to arrive, it depends on the athlete.

 

[WildRose]

I stayed at my son’s condo during the Olympics, in a building that was right next door to the Athlete’s Village. We were inside a security zone but we soon got used to the checkpoint and it wasn’t a big deal. I loved the Olympics. My son took the time off work & volunteered and had a great time. I would go again in a minute and would love it if my home town could host one.

 

[manhn]

I loved the Olympics. I woke up like something stupid like 3am every morning and take the bus to practice sessions. And then slept through it all.
In terms of money, if not for the Olympics, no way would I have been able to attend Skate Canada in Victoria, Canadians in Vancouver, Skate America in Everett, 4CC in Vancouver, and oh yeah, the Olympics. Whatever extra taxes I paid due to the Olympics, it was more than offset in the savings in not paying for airfare to attend those events. So, all in all, I actually made money from the Olympics.

 

[Steph]

I went to the LA Olympics in '84 because they were local. I was poor and couldn't buy a lot of tickets but was able to drive up to see a few things and it was really fun. And in SLC in 2002, we spent a lot of time downtown and talked to a lot of locals. Many didn't have tickets but had driven in from nearby towns and were going to all the free stuff and scoring tickets here and there. They were having a blast.

I think we don't really know how the locals in Pyongyang feel about having the Olympics or the tv schedule. Maybe they'll be like the ones I met in Salt Lake City or maybe they'll be like @Steph Smith and be all grumpy.

Ok. I'm only going to bore people with this once. For the athletes and spectators the Olympics are about sport, but institutionally the Games are nothing more than a money machine: an engine of displacement, real estate graft, and corruption.

I hope that "the locals" in Pyeongchang are happier than folks around Seoul during the the 1988 Summer Games, when 720,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes. In Atlanta, 30,000 people were forcibly evicted. As of 2007, over 2 million people had been displaced for the Olympics in the previous 20 years. Two. Million. People.

In Vancouver, people on welfare were forced out of town for the 2010 Games. Their shitty homes were bought up by developers (this was planned by the real estate industry). There was a tent city a block from my house downtown. The Vancouver Integrated Services Unit (the cops) followed and harassed me and my activist friends, and spied on meetings. The original security budget was $175 million -- they ended up spending over a billion.

Heaven forbid someone be "grumpy" about that, eh?

It's a complicated thing. I love sport and I love the idea of the Games. Artist friends of mine had their performances and venues funded with VANOC money. A dear friend rose out of that goddamned plinth at the opening ceremonies to perform a beautiful spoken word piece for millions of people around the world. I cried at Rochette and Virtue and Moir and thrilled every time the O Canada horn went off to signal that we'd earned another medal.

But the Games are achieved at the cost of immense human suffering and the wholesale looting of public assets. The IOC needs to be stripped to the studs and rebuilt.

Which leads back to our original topic: skating is happening when it's happening because nobody at NBC or the IOC gives a rat's ass about the athletes except to the extent that if affects their bottom line.

Here is a report from a Geneva NGO, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, about mega-events, the Olympics, and housing rights.
https://issuu.com/cohre/docs/cohre_fairplayforhousingrights2007

And here's a piece from the Guardian (much shorter).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/06/sport.china

And with that, I'll return to my regularly scheduled V/M ubering.

 

[meggonzo]

They stream every event live. That isn't cheap so it isn't free.

The idea that people define NBC's coverage by their prime time show is outdated. We live in a multi-media world.

It's better to be able to stream it live during primetime hours, so I can sit at home in sweatpants and drink alcohol/eat snacks, over having to stream at work, or in the middle of the night.

 

[Carolla5501]

Steph I live in Atlanta. There has been some 'selective' counting going on. Most of us can't figure out WHERE they came up with these numbers. There was some relocation, but.... the math seems to have some issues. (And of course a lot of people were relocated from a condemned, drug infested violent neighborhood to better locations, but we get no credit for that There were people in one area beyond excited to get out! LOL!)

And unlike you, most of us are happy. But feel free to continue your political rants (would you mind moving it to the trash can however)

 

[patinart]

Aren't Olympic events scheduled always scheduled throughout the day and into the evening? How do you know locals will prefer to watch figure skating over say, biathalon, or sliding? If they do have to work during the day, they could go to a different event in the evening.

Or is NOTHING happening at night this year?

Yes, short track, which happens to be a VERY popular sport in South Korea, is in the evenings. Since they share a rink with the figure skaters, it is not surprising that they would get the evening slot and the figure skaters would get the mornings.

 

[allezfred]

Yes, short track, which happens to be a VERY popular sport in South Korea, is in the evenings. Since they share a rink with the figure skaters, it is not surprising that they would get the evening slot and the figure skaters would get the mornings.

Except short track and figure skating are only being held twice on the same day during this Olympics.

 

[Sk8yDad]

Many US skaters are hoping to "cash in" on their hard work and success in the sport by being actually seen in primetime. Competing in the morning may be a little inconvenient but certainly worth it for them. Being seen by a national audience will make them more marketable and hopefully rejuvenate interest in our sport among younger viewers. I think NBC is trying to attract new interest in a sport that is dying by the commercial they are running promoting Nathan Chen. Almost everyone is going to win in the end if the United States can see figure skating in primetime. If you live in North America, you shouldn't complain.

 

[allezfred]

I don’t live in North America so I will continue to complain.

 

[MsZem]

Many US skaters are hoping to "cash in" on their hard work and success in the sport by being actually seen in primetime. Competing in the morning may be a little inconvenient but certainly worth it for them. Being seen by a national audience will make them more marketable and hopefully rejuvenate interest in our sport among younger viewers. I think NBC is trying to attract new interest in a sport that is dying by the commercial they are running promoting Nathan Chen. Almost everyone is going to win in the end if the United States can see figure skating in primetime. If you live in North America, you shouldn't complain.

I'm sure that Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and various European skaters are excited to play their part in providing promotional opportunities for US skaters.

 

[Anyasnake]

I don’t live in North America so I will continue to complain.

I can relate to that. From 2 a.m to 5 a.m EVERY skating event of these Games. All I'm going to get in the end are Dark circles