5 ms·

I don't understand why the Olympics have to be so fast. Build an insane amount of infrastructure, have dozens of events simultaneously all of the time, then shi

I don't understand why the Olympics have to be so fast. Build an insane amount of infrastructure, have dozens of events simultaneously all of the time, then ship everyone home. I end up missing just about everything. If I want to catch some of the storylines, I really need them spoon fed to me. If they stretched out the events over a month or two we would get double benefits - we could actually consume more of the events, and they would drastically reduce their need to build venues/villages/etc.

dairylee 5y ago
I believe one of the reasons for this is that in general the sporting calendar is pretty full and this two week period in July/August is always empty.
- giarc 5y ago
  But aren't most sporting calendars built around the Olympics? I'm not talking MLB, NBA etc, but all other sports (athletics, swimming, gymnastics etc) have their World Cups and qualifying etc scheduled specifically to prepare for the Olympics.
  - secabeen 5y ago
    The US pro sports are the tail that wags the dog.
    - giarc 5y ago
      Sure but let's look at a few. NBA - just finished season, many players, even those that played in the playoffs have made the trip to Toyoko. So seems like the NBA could continue to supply players for the Olympics. Golf - they could continue to play at the Olympics since an event could easily be scheduled for a Thursday-Sunday as usual. MLB - no event NHL - winter event that has supplied players, but it is an issue as the Olympics occur right in the middle of their season. NFL - no event Tennis/ATP - super long season normally, could make it a Grand Slam event, or a 1000 event and schedule into season every 4 years. One difficult thing is that doubles teams aren't always from same country. So they would need to mix and therefore affect rankings. I think it could easily be done for most leagues. The issue is money. The NBA/NHL/PGA/ATP have no immediate financial motivation for sending their players but carry risk in that players can get injured. However, if they see the Olympics as a new source of fans (and therefore income) it could be a win-win.
wombat-man 5y ago
Yeah I just kinda turn it on when I'm home and catch whatever I can. If I'm being real I'm not THAT invested in any event. It's just fun to watch.
ascagnel_ 5y ago
I think it's a "big splash" thing -- make enough waves all at the same time, and you'll spread to people who aren't paying attention. It's the same reason why the video game industry still did a bunch of press conferences all around the same time last year and this year, in place of E3 -- generate enough noise, and you start to move outside the enthusiast press and into mainstream press.
- AtlasBarfed 5y ago
  But you can do the same thing with six or eight weeks too, there's something to be said for being a sustained presence to draw people in. The draw of the olympics is the four year achievement, almost regardless of sport. There are so many of the competitions that could be hyped up far better than they are, and more room for backstories and more room for competition. I think NBC will punt the olympics pretty soon because of the cost, so we'll see. That combined with the cost of hosting and a dearth of bidding cities, corrections are coming. What also mystifies me is that the governing bodies for the main olympic sports don't coordinate their world championships to be in the same period in off years. They could probably capture a much larger percentage of olympic voters if the swimming and track and field champs and gymnastics champs were all scheduled close together and with awareness of each other's schedules.
loonster 5y ago
I don't care about the storylines at all. I dont care about their sob story. I just want to see some humans do some amazing things with their body.
- asciimov 5y ago
  I'm like you, but I have plenty of friends who are all about the story. They want to know all the struggles and heartaches that a person had to get where they are.

dairylee 5y ago

I believe one of the reasons for this is that in general the sporting calendar is pretty full and this two week period in July/August is always empty.

giarc 5y ago
But aren't most sporting calendars built around the Olympics? I'm not talking MLB, NBA etc, but all other sports (athletics, swimming, gymnastics etc) have their World Cups and qualifying etc scheduled specifically to prepare for the Olympics.
- secabeen 5y ago
  The US pro sports are the tail that wags the dog.
  - giarc 5y ago
    Sure but let's look at a few. NBA - just finished season, many players, even those that played in the playoffs have made the trip to Toyoko. So seems like the NBA could continue to supply players for the Olympics. Golf - they could continue to play at the Olympics since an event could easily be scheduled for a Thursday-Sunday as usual. MLB - no event NHL - winter event that has supplied players, but it is an issue as the Olympics occur right in the middle of their season. NFL - no event Tennis/ATP - super long season normally, could make it a Grand Slam event, or a 1000 event and schedule into season every 4 years. One difficult thing is that doubles teams aren't always from same country. So they would need to mix and therefore affect rankings. I think it could easily be done for most leagues. The issue is money. The NBA/NHL/PGA/ATP have no immediate financial motivation for sending their players but carry risk in that players can get injured. However, if they see the Olympics as a new source of fans (and therefore income) it could be a win-win.

wombat-man 5y ago

Yeah I just kinda turn it on when I'm home and catch whatever I can. If I'm being real I'm not THAT invested in any event. It's just fun to watch.

ascagnel_ 5y ago

I think it's a "big splash" thing -- make enough waves all at the same time, and you'll spread to people who aren't paying attention. It's the same reason why the video game industry still did a bunch of press conferences all around the same time last year and this year, in place of E3 -- generate enough noise, and you start to move outside the enthusiast press and into mainstream press.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
But you can do the same thing with six or eight weeks too, there's something to be said for being a sustained presence to draw people in. The draw of the olympics is the four year achievement, almost regardless of sport. There are so many of the competitions that could be hyped up far better than they are, and more room for backstories and more room for competition. I think NBC will punt the olympics pretty soon because of the cost, so we'll see. That combined with the cost of hosting and a dearth of bidding cities, corrections are coming. What also mystifies me is that the governing bodies for the main olympic sports don't coordinate their world championships to be in the same period in off years. They could probably capture a much larger percentage of olympic voters if the swimming and track and field champs and gymnastics champs were all scheduled close together and with awareness of each other's schedules.

loonster 5y ago

I don't care about the storylines at all. I dont care about their sob story. I just want to see some humans do some amazing things with their body.

asciimov 5y ago
I'm like you, but I have plenty of friends who are all about the story. They want to know all the struggles and heartaches that a person had to get where they are.