How come the Olympics aren't as much of an attraction to the US public?

Question

I mean I turn on ESPNEWS OR ESPN and they barely mention the Olympics. It's such a huge event worldwide but they'd Rather talk about Brett Favre :(

Answer 1

i saw that too... it's only on NBC & CNN international ...another thing is the only thing they'll show is gymnastics & swimming cause of the highly publicized athletes in those areas..

it ticks me off but that's typical of americans just like they do in the FiFA world cup.

this is something that i think the whole world should watch regardless ..set aside your political differences and enjoy sports which unites us all

Answer 2

well there are a few reasons. football, baseball, basketball.....

Answer 3

I dunno...everyone I know seems to be tuning in to watch Phelps at least...people care...but sports networks seem to care less than most people do...most people are watching the olympics while those sports stations are talking about other things   :)

Answer 4

Because China is doing too well

Answer 5

ESPN is partnered with ABC, not NBC, so they need permission to broadcast any clips of the Olympics. If you turn on NBC or MSNBC, there's a noticeable difference in coverage.

As for the Olympics on NBC, I wouldn't worry about their significance among the American public – they've been getting terrific ratings, which would probably be even better if China's time zone weren't 12 hours ahead of the East Coast. Many of the events happen while most of the US is asleep, and therefore can only be talked about after the fact when the outcome is already known (except for the night owl viewers like me).

Answer 6

Well, NBC's whole day is made up of the Olympics, so I guess that is where everyone watches it. The ESPN channels probably don't bother with them ad the only viewers they get are the ones who don't like the Olympics and the sports that are going on.

Answer 7

because only nbc can show olympics

Answer 8

While I agree that I would like to see a wider variety of sporting events the networks (thanks to cable) do offer a pretty wide variety and DVR makes most of them pretty accessible.

As far as ESPN is concerned, there are a lot of sporting events for them to cover other than the olympics. I'm pretty sure that they feel that NBC, USA and the others are doing a pretty good job of saturating the public with the games and that those that tune in to their network do want to hear about Brett Farve being a Jet or waffling about retiring or whatever the h**l Brett is up to now.

So tell me, who do you think ESPN does when the olympics aren't being held?