Anyone know what sort of coverage the games will be gettjng in Brazil - IIRC Globo is broadcasting them, so the same as the Olympics.
Meanwhile Seven, who are showing the Paralympics, have shown the exact same ad as C4. They had got oermission to adapt it for their use but seem to have just left sll Team GB athletes in it.
I read somewhere that the top end of the salary scale for a citizen of Rio was £500. Compare this with the tickets for the sessions and you’ll see why the stadiums were empty. Mid-range seats for the first day of gymnastics qualifiers were £80, about the same as London. Likewise the athletics sessions, these were similarly priced to those in London. Whilst there were cheaper tickets available for Brazilian citizens it’s clear they were still far in excess of what is affordable for most people. Another thing to consider is that 2 million people in Rio don’t even have acceptable sanitation in their homes. The disconnect between the host city and the Olympic movement is probably the most stark it has been in a host city since Mexico 1968, which were also characterised by empty stadiums and discontent.
The pricing strategy for the Paralympics is much lower, I think the starting prices are as low as £5 per ticket so I thought the ticket sales would have been marginally better than this. Michael Johnson has gone on record as saying it was a mistake to have the athletics venue so separate from the Olympic Park and that this has also contributed to a lack of atmosphere. Add in zika fears also; huge numbers of fans from North America and Europe have avoided travelling.
Another issue that needs addressed, but has been ignored by the media, is that South Americans don’t seem to be interested in much else than football, and in particular matches involving their own countries. The boorish behaviour of fans has come straight from the football terraces. At the same time international sporting contests, with the exception of football competitions, rarely visit South America and the continent has been ignored by sporting authorities for decades. I think all this adds up to the empty stadia and lack of public appetite for the Games.
They might have been better giving the Para tickets out for free and making at least some of the losses back from increased merchandising and food sales.
I think the IOC are finally getting there when it comes to the Olympics that bigger isn't better and have relaxed some of the requirements for sizes of the stadia. I think in athletics case this is the first under 70,000 in recent times, though only 55,000 or so of the seats are sold to the public.
London was sadly the exception rather than the rule when it came to full stadia (and not just for the Paralympics). It'll be interesting to see if they sell out morning sessions next year for the World Athletics Championships.
If they're relocating events, it may well be easier to abandon live coverage than start planning it from scratch and getting the infrastructure in place. A big cost saving too.
I think Channel 4 will reduce their coverage to a highlight show and the Last Leg. Maybe they might cover a few members of Team GB. This might also reduce RTE's coverage here in Ireland to Team Ireland members.
If they're relocating events, it may well be easier to abandon live coverage than start planning it from scratch and getting the infrastructure in place. A big cost saving too.
Might be cheaper for the host broadcaster. Might be quite costly for the rights holders with advertising slots etc.
From what we're hearing, all of the events will go ahead albeit in alternative, lower-capacity, shared venues. So I suppose it'll come down to the infrastructure that's able to be put in place in such a short time.
