Why did the 2020/1 Tokyo Olympics lack traction?

lousubcap

Olympics 2020/1 from Tokyo.  Not a big viewer here.  COVID wins one more time.  The skipped year, time zone difference and along with the games uncertainty definitely quelled my interest. I have been engaged since Wilma Rudolph was rolling to Olympic glory decades ago (Google can place the time frame )  Yes, old here.  I generally spend around five minutes on line every AM with ESPN to get my desired info. 
My live events have consisted of USWNT soccer vs Netherlands and the last 10 K of the women's marathon after a mention on the NBC nightly news this PM.  Molly Seidel USA in only her third marathon took Bronze.  He!! of a run. BTW- live men's marathon live- 6 PM (EDT) Saturday. 
Women and Men basketball go for the Gold.  Go USA.  

Botch

Can't answer you.  I'm much more into the Winter Olympics (which I can relate to more) but even so I watched more of this Summer Olympics than I ever had before (I am retired now, so that's most of it).  
Thanks to intranetz video, MOST conventional TV events (Miss America, Super Bowl, Olympics, Grammies, Emmies, Tony's, WhatEver-ies) have ALL dropped in viewership.  The Attention Crowd is changing, again.  No idea where it will land next.  

HeavyG

I've been glad to be able to stream the events I like live in their entirety. Have watched more hours this time than ever before. First time I've been able to catch many events live in their entirety.

The newly added event Sport Climbing rocked (so to speak). Still have two days of Track Cycling!

alaskanassasin

Love the olympics. We basically have rabbit ears tv and my gripe is that the only thing they show is track and swimming. There are dozens of events but, track and swimming is all we get. Hours of track qualifying, how exciting is that? I logged into peacock and it is a mess to navigate, can’t find discus, shot put, javelin any of the field events.

JohnInCarolina

We watched a fair amount of the coverage.  I don’t know, I thought it was decent.  

DavidCrumpton

I lost interest years ago when they started doing more human interest pieces and talking too much and not showing the events. I could only take so much of Bob Costos. 

lousubcap

I have no issues with the coverage as NBC and their partners broadcasted many hours.  (Granted I don't do delayed events of any sports..). For me, I never got the feeling that this was "The Olympics" and I am quite willing to assign that to Covid.  Summer Olympics Paris 2024.  Gotta be better.  One can hope.
Edit: bonus points-neighbors roll Fox cable on every TV.  Lately Fox has been supplanted by the Olympics.  Silver lining!  
Stay healthy and safe out there-

MJG

I haven’t been a fan of the Olympics in quite some time. There are too many professional athletes for my liking. Give me some old fashioned Miracle on Ice type stuff and I’d watch. 

JohnInCarolina

The time difference may have also played a role.  13 hrs ahead is tricky to manage.

ryantt

Have to admit, haven’t watched the summer games since the 88/92 Olympics.   88 was Dan vs Dave and all the hype leading up to what was a let down…and 92 let’s just say Dream Team!!!!!  

Now for the winter games, I can’t get enough!!! Curling for the win!!!!

Foghorn

I'm an Olympics junkie and I've watched as much this year as in any other year. But I get that viewership is down and that attention spans are short these days - not lasting any longer than a 800m run or a 200m swim.  So, I do think there is a lot of truth in @lousubcap's comments and hopefully 2024 will be better - but I wouldn't count on it.

PigBeanUs

DavidCrumpton said:

I lost interest years ago when they started doing more human interest pieces and talking too much and not showing the events. I could only take so much of Bob Costos. 

Very little in the way of human interest stories this year. 

And Bob Costas is not a part of the broadcasting team. 

Safe for you to tune in this year. 

alaskanassasin

PigBeanUs said:

DavidCrumpton said:

I lost interest years ago when they started doing more human interest pieces and talking too much and not showing the events. I could only take so much of Bob Costos. 

Very little in the way of human interest stories this year. 

And Bob Costas is not a part of the broadcasting team. 

Safe for you to tune in this year. 

I was looking forward to more Japanese culture pieces, but if they didn’t mention Tokyo it could literally be anywhere.

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

PigBeanUs said:

DavidCrumpton said:

I lost interest years ago when they started doing more human interest pieces and talking too much and not showing the events. I could only take so much of Bob Costos. 

Very little in the way of human interest stories this year. 

And Bob Costas is not a part of the broadcasting team. 

Safe for you to tune in this year. 

I was looking forward to more Japanese culture pieces, but if they didn’t mention Tokyo it could literally be anywhere.

I’m guessing the pandemic raging across Japan has put a bit of a damper on opportunities for cultural pieces.

DavidCrumpton

PigBeanUs said:

DavidCrumpton said:

I lost interest years ago when they started doing more human interest pieces and talking too much and not showing the events. I could only take so much of Bob Costos. 

Very little in the way of human interest stories this year. 

And Bob Costas is not a part of the broadcasting team. 

Safe for you to tune in this year. 

Once I lost interest it didn’t come back. It has been the same with all sports. To many commentators talking too much. I was once an avid football junkie. Now I can careless. There is too much talking, too many commercials, and little time on the event. 

DuckDogDr

I haven't watched TV in almost a month. It's been all I can do to fit a little exercise (jiu jitsu and swimming)
Between my crazy work schedule and trying to sleep.. and unfortunately I wish I was exaggerating. 
TV has been the last of my priorities and the 2 times I thought I was going to get to, i fell asleep in the recliner before i can even lift the remote.

I usually try to watch a couple of events... the archery, karate and swimming..but also in the back of my head I was figuring there was going to be alot of protests and politics and I don't care to watch that when I'm trying to "escape"...so i really didn't even try and TIVO it either

ColbyLang

Too many professional athletes from most major countries. Olympics should be amateur athletes that are up and coming. 

I also think that instead of wasting billions of dollars every 4 years in a host city, it should be wash rinse repeat in about 5 cities on a rotation. Complete waste of $$ building out stadiums and pools and all that other crap to get used for a month and then forgotten about 

lkapigian

To many " agendas" not enough competition ...to many using this as a platform to further their cause. ( and pocketbooks )  while doing nothing for the sport or country that put them there pretty much why I dont watch muchs sports of any kind ..

JohnInCarolina

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

Do you flag yourself after you post just to get it out of the way?

JohnInCarolina

dmchicago said:

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

Do you flag yourself after you post just to get it out of the way?

Just another component of my grand strategy to ruin the forum.  How do you think it's going so far?

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina said:

dmchicago said:

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

Do you flag yourself after you post just to get it out of the way?

Just another component of my grand strategy to ruin the forum.  How do you think it's going so far?

I think the silver is within reach if not the gold. 

Battleborn

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

I think that is mostly true. I also think the time difference and the way NBC is presenting the events has a major impact on the viewership. If an event is taking place in the middle of the night here, but NBC will not show it until the next day’s prime time, people have already known the outcome and are less likely to watch. 

For me, I love VGK hockey. It is the first time I have been able to have a professional sports team that I felt connected to and was “mine,” however, if there is a reason I cannot watch the game, I will not record and watch it later. I already know the outcome, why waist the time to see how it got there. 

GatoGordo

We are not sport fans, but do watch the Olympics. We record everything and then watch what we want and skip over the rest. For example, we always skip over women's events (except indoor volleyball and gymnastics), running in circles, running for miles, bicycling for miles, junk events (you know what they are), and discussions (not interested in an athlete's feelings). The other day we went through a six hour recording in about an hour. 

Eoin

JohnInCarolina said:

dmchicago said:

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

Do you flag yourself after you post just to get it out of the way?

Just another component of my grand strategy to ruin the forum.  How do you think it's going so far?

To be honest, I think you've been slacking a bit recently. Maybe the fame is making you complacent?

Eoin

GB doing well overall so no complaints from this side of the pond.

JohnInCarolina

GatoGordo said:

We are not sport fans, but do watch the Olympics. We record everything and then watch what we want and skip over the rest. For example, we always skip over women's events (except indoor volleyball and gymnastics), running in circles, running for miles, bicycling for miles, junk events (you know what they are), and discussions (not interested in an athlete's feelings). The other day we went through a six hour recording in about an hour. 

The women’s beach volleyball is where it’s at, man, if only for the uniforms alone.  

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina said:

GatoGordo said:

We are not sport fans, but do watch the Olympics. We record everything and then watch what we want and skip over the rest. For example, we always skip over women's events (except indoor volleyball and gymnastics), running in circles, running for miles, bicycling for miles, junk events (you know what they are), and discussions (not interested in an athlete's feelings). The other day we went through a six hour recording in about an hour. 

The women’s beach volleyball is where it’s at, man, if only for the uniforms alone.  

There may be a job opening in Albany for you soon. 

JohnInCarolina

dmchicago said:

JohnInCarolina said:

GatoGordo said:

We are not sport fans, but do watch the Olympics. We record everything and then watch what we want and skip over the rest. For example, we always skip over women's events (except indoor volleyball and gymnastics), running in circles, running for miles, bicycling for miles, junk events (you know what they are), and discussions (not interested in an athlete's feelings). The other day we went through a six hour recording in about an hour. 

The women’s beach volleyball is where it’s at, man, if only for the uniforms alone.  

There may be a job opening in Albany for you soon. 

Hey!  Let’s not let politics ruin this thread too.

Oh wait…

caliking

dmchicago said:

JohnInCarolina said:

I think much could depend on the manner in which you "consume" the games.  If you're mostly just hearing about it via news reports about the games or through social media, that is going to provide you with one picture of what's going on and what the emphasis is.  If instead you spend time each day deciding which events to watch and on what network, that will give you a different experience.  

Do you flag yourself after you post just to get it out of the way?

Flagsturbating?

JohnInCarolina

At least when you flag your own posts you know who did it.