Sports Aren’t About Wonders of Athletic Prowess

Think fast! Can you name the sport with the most expensive television rights in the world? With 34.4 billion hours of viewing time 2004, and even more projected in 2008 (and this being a blog with a focus on China) you’d expect that the answer would be the Olympics. But, the IOC is not purely focused on profit; there’s also something about spreading the Olympic cheer.

Despite this benevolent gesture, the IOC is bringing in $1.7 billion for the TV rights to the Summer Olympics in Beijing. By comparison, the NBA’s new broadcast deal is $7.5 billion for 8 years, Major League Baseball is rumored to be ~$900 million, English Premier League is $2.6 billion, and the “big five” soccer leagues of Europe total $11.3 billion. The King of Broadcast Rights is the other football: CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC paid $3.7 billion for the 2008 rights to broadcast the NFL. (Data from The Economist)

I like the Olympics, but I really like football. The NFL showcases a diverse mixture (of athletic body types) of the most naturally gifted and chemically/nutrionally enhanced athletes in the world, coached by America’s most strategic and, arguably, hardest working minds into beating the pulp out of each other while 55,000 fans cheer them on. Football is deep and simple, beautiful and brutal, meticulously planned and spontaneously disrupted, a perfect metaphor for the war sport theoretically evolved to practice for.

And like great warriors, the NFL players bring great stories. Sure, the Olypmics have heartwarming stories and some national rivalry, but a compelling story has to have some drama. In the NFL you get drugs, sex, and (off the field) violence. The NFL also has its heroes, but the most beloved are only so because of their flaws. This is more than just sport, this is great TV.

Which is why American reporters complain about freedom of the press during the Olympics. The Olympics is not just about sports because that would be boring, and the ratings and advertising dollars that are supposed to realize a profit on top of that $1.7 billion would not materialize. This doesn’t mean that the Olympics have to be about politics. But, the Olympics are supposed to be about the country hosting them. The reporters are there to tell the story of China, they’re not there to tell us what happened during the 100m dash. China’s reluctance to let reporters gather their stories is only telling me that the only thing that’s going to be worth watching are the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Compelling Olympic coverage should include the strengths and the flaws of China, we’d only end up liking China more for it, rather than wonder what is not being reported on.