POSTED: January 25th 2012
NewsUpdate
JOHN GOODBODY: Sad to say it but money is well spent on Olympic ceremonies
THE JOHN GOODBODY COLUMN / An authoritative and exclusive series from Sports Features Communications
LONDON: In the 11 Summer Olympics that I have covered as a journalist, I have only attended one Opening Ceremony, my first in Mexico. Since those Games, I have usually been working in the main press centre, with one eye on the television screen. Even for journalists, there is a strict allocation on the number of seats given to each newspaper and I have happily given up the chance of a ticket for a colleague, who either has to report the event or actually wants to see it – not always the same thing.
The more the Ceremonies have drifted away from the actual Olympic traditions and increasingly embraced showbusiness the less interested I have become. But I accept I am unusual. Global live television ratings show that the 2008 Opening Ceremony attracted 984 million people, who watched part of the show at home.
Given that these figures do not include people who watched in public places, such as pubs, clubs, restaurants, it is clear that more than a billion people saw some of the ceremony.
No other event in history has ever matched this figure, not the funeral of Princess Diana, nor Barack Obama’s inauguration nor even the World Cup Final.
The 2008 figure is not really surprising because 393 million viewers in China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion watched some of the ceremony. When collating viewing figures, one important factor is how interested in those events are the inhabitants of the countries with big populations, such as China, India, the United States, the republics of the former Soviet Union and Brazil.
The highest figure for any actual sporting event at the 2008 Olympics was not the men’s 100 metres starring Usain Bolt, which drew 390 million, but the volleyball match between China and Cuba, which drew 450 million, almost all of them Chinese, to watch the event at some stage.
And that brings us to London this year. It is probable that the TV audiences will be less than in 2008 because so many of the most attractive events, including the Opening and Closing Ceremony, will be held in the evening in London, from about 4 a.m. in Asia.
Nevertheless, the timing will be ideally placed for peak viewing time in western Europe and parts of Africa and not unsatisfactory for the American continent, with the Opening Ceremony expected to end about 7 p.m. on the East Coast of the United States.
In London, there has been considerable controversy over the Government doubling the budget for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to $128 million, with many critics saying the money could have been better spent on, say, schools sports facilities in the years to come. Marathon runner Paula Radcliffe has described the budget as “frivolous”.
Perhaps. However, as Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has pointed out:”There will never be an opportunity like this in our history. It isn’t about the Ceremonies. It’s about how competently we put on the biggest sporting event on the planet.”
As he admits, this is about a wonderful business opportunity. Not only is it vital for Britain’s prestige to put on Ceremonies which demonstrate how efficient, inventive and colourful the country can be, it is also persuading people to visit the country.
Televising the Ceremonies can be the best advertisement for tourism you can have. Reluctantly, I have to say that it should be money well spent.
** JOHN GOODBODY covered the 2008 Olympics for The Sunday Times, his 11th successive Summer Games and is the author of the audio book A History of the Olympics, read by Barry Davies, the BBC commentator. He was Sports News Correspondent of The Times 1986-2007, for whom he received journalistic awards in all three decades on the paper, including Sports Reporter of The Year in 2001.
Keywords · London 2012 · Olympics · John Goodbody
For more information contact:
Laura Walden ()
All original materials contained in this section are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Sports Features Communications, Inc the owner of that content. It is prohibited to alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
