The Winter Olympics are being held in a few months, and though the Summer Games were interesting last year, from the beginning they were marred in controversy. Between crime, corruption, dirty water, and Zika, the Rio Olympics felt like a disaster before they even started. This only another instance of the Olympic games have been having problems lately, and I have some thoughts on how to fix them.
Have five permanent locations. This ends the corruption of the bidding process and makes sure that the games don't end up in a city that can't handle the complex problems that come with the Olympics. It also makes sure that cities aren't building expensive infrastructure that will never be used again and left to rot.
Which cities? For the summer Olympics: Los Angeles, Beijing, London, Moscow, and Sydney. For the winter Olympics: Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Oslo, Innsbruck, Austria, and Sapporo, Japan. They've all demonstrated they can handle everything that comes with hosting the games.
Have fewer events. Just a little less. We only see these athletes every four years, and if there are a ton of them, it's hard to keep up. What everyone enjoys about the Olympics is learning about the athletes' stories, their struggles and accomplishments, their backgrounds and families. When there are too many, you lose some of that.
Make the medal count matter. Right now it's sort of unofficial, tallied by ESPN or other media networks. Recognize the nations that win the most medals at the closing ceremonies, as well as call attention to nations that won a gold medal in an event for the first time.
Release the highlights. I know you paid a crap ton of money for the rights to broadcast the Olympics, NBC, but let ESPN show the highlights instead of stills. If I see a clip of a certain sport I've never watched before and find it interesting, I might tune in next time. I might even be excited about it for four years. That's how you develop a following. Plus the clip is going to be on Twitter within two minutes anyway. You might as well let ESPN and Fox Sports use it.
Those are just a few things I think will make the Olympics better. What do you think?
Have five permanent locations. This ends the corruption of the bidding process and makes sure that the games don't end up in a city that can't handle the complex problems that come with the Olympics. It also makes sure that cities aren't building expensive infrastructure that will never be used again and left to rot.
Which cities? For the summer Olympics: Los Angeles, Beijing, London, Moscow, and Sydney. For the winter Olympics: Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Oslo, Innsbruck, Austria, and Sapporo, Japan. They've all demonstrated they can handle everything that comes with hosting the games.
Have fewer events. Just a little less. We only see these athletes every four years, and if there are a ton of them, it's hard to keep up. What everyone enjoys about the Olympics is learning about the athletes' stories, their struggles and accomplishments, their backgrounds and families. When there are too many, you lose some of that.
Make the medal count matter. Right now it's sort of unofficial, tallied by ESPN or other media networks. Recognize the nations that win the most medals at the closing ceremonies, as well as call attention to nations that won a gold medal in an event for the first time.
Release the highlights. I know you paid a crap ton of money for the rights to broadcast the Olympics, NBC, but let ESPN show the highlights instead of stills. If I see a clip of a certain sport I've never watched before and find it interesting, I might tune in next time. I might even be excited about it for four years. That's how you develop a following. Plus the clip is going to be on Twitter within two minutes anyway. You might as well let ESPN and Fox Sports use it.
Those are just a few things I think will make the Olympics better. What do you think?
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