Olympics
 

Starts tomorrow unbelievably, although the opening ceremony won't be till the weekend.

Soccer: GB Women v Chile Women @8:30 am No spectators allowed :(

Shame we still can't agree between the 4 nations to get a men's team.

Re: Olympics
 

And on Wednesday is Baseball and softball two sports to pique your interest Mr K.

Re: Olympics
 

We should enter our 20/20 "cricket' team for Baseball. Same thing ;)

Re: Olympics
 

Such a shame for Japan that their Olympics has to be like this. I think Tokyo would have been great hosts with everyone there.

Re: Olympics
 

There would be constant whinging from the Scots and Welsh.

The thinking also goes that if GB/UK can form a team, then there would be pressure for that to continue in other competitions.

Re: Olympics
 

I think that certain sports don't belong in the Olympics - soccer, rugby etc other than the quick smaller versions 5 a side/7's. It seems trying to squeeze in 90/80 minute games with just 2 teams in a full 2 week event is too much. The smaller format may allow more teams to compete and spectators could get to see multiple games within a time period.



I'd like to see field archery included along side target, especially 3D (shoot at models of animals). I think it would make interesting viewing. I'm biased being a toxophilite.


It is a shame about the changes needed because of Covid.

---------- Post added at 09:53 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------


Rugby manages with individual teams and the Lions. And that includes the fun with the Irish being from either side of "the border".

Re: Olympics
 

I'm just repeating the reasons given some time ago to that question. Playing of Rugby is on a very different scale to football/soccer.
The separate football associations in the UK is a bit of anomaly. Historically just the way the sport developed.

Re: Olympics
 

No, the worry is England, Wales and Scotland all have a vote on the FIFA board or IFAB which decides the laws of the game, that's what might be in jeopardy with an amalgamated team

Not sure I'll bother with this olympics tbh, just seems a bit pointless

Re: Olympics
 

Really where did you get that from? Not sure the FAs of the UK would be that bothered by only having a single vote. Mine was from an actual news report, some time ago.
Link
Link
The FIFA council only has one UK member out of 37, and that is as a representative of UEFA, not UK.
Link

Re: Olympics
 

From the opposition to the 2012 Olympic team and they are bothered, it's not even like even joined together we can out vote fifa as they have seven votes and we have three combined but for some reason it really matters to Scotland and Wales FA's, suppose it is quite prestigious. I remember them saying their independence was at stake as teams but I can't believe they were that concerned by that really

Re: Olympics
 

l agree as sport can be very soulless without spectators there.

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FIFA has repeatedly stated that it is not interested in forcing the home nations to combine. It stated this with particular force prior to 2012 when the desirability of a Team GB entry in the football competitions was especially strong.

It suits the Welsh and the Scottish FAs to push this line but really it’s just a fig leaf for their own sense of inferiority, most likely because any GB football team is inevitably going to be dominated by English players and management. History has gifted these two FAs a level of influence they could never earn or pay for and they’re extremely paranoid about losing it.

Re: Olympics
 

Succinctly put and entirely accurate imo

Re: Olympics
 

I'm going to watch Skateboarding with the 13-year-old Sky Brown, the youngest to represent our country.


Last year she had a serious accident, and if she wasn't wearing her helmet she would have died.


She is highly rated.

Re: Olympics
 

Just watched a bit of softball, just like baseball but more tedious. God knows how either got in the Olympics. Probably something to do with US networks and money.

They need some proper sports like rugby, cricket, tiddlywinks...

Anyway Sweden are beating the US 1-0 at soccerball so that's all good :)

Re: Olympics
 

Not watch any of it yet, whole thing seems like a damp squib. Then I find out that the Beeb is only allowed two feeds because Discovery have bought out the rights.☹️
So is everyone just making do with whatever crumbs the BBC can get?

Re: Olympics
 

Sadly the control of the rights were lost 6 years ago.:(

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...very-eurosport

Re: Olympics
 

Caught some Olympics today - wife was watching it - seemed all studio chat and no action to me :shrug:

Re: Olympics
 

If you hunt on BBC website you can find a lot of it, they just can't stream it live now,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...utton-00000400


I watched the men's street skateboarding earlier, will watch the women's tomorrow and the park later in the week. Sky Brown is amazing, she's winning competitions competing against skaters older and more experienced than her, and she always looks like she's having so much fun, as she gets older, and bigger, she'll get even better as will be able to get more height, and go faster, you can see towards the end of her runs she's knackered as she can't get the same momentum as the older skaters so has to pump so much more.

I'm interested in watching the sports climbing, and the bmx events, and will probably follow the women's football as Team GB progress.

Re: Olympics
 

Want to watch the archery but the silly rights mean it's hidden away or snippets here and there. Something should be done to protect events like the Olympics but the money is so big now that more minor sports will not get shown on "national" stations.


I think the nationals maybe should focus more on the minority sports that don't normally get any airtime rather than the bigger sports that get shown more frequently but I guess the rational is to show what's got the biggest audience.

Re: Olympics
 

I can safely say I would not miss it if no one had any rights. :D

Re: Olympics
 

Big mistake from the IOC to give it to a paywalled service, a paywalled service that no one else even.

The Olympics aren't popular enough for people to actively seek it out and pay more as they do for the Premier League and football generally. All this means is a much smaller audience which will hit their ability to sell sponsorships and even the value of the TV rights later down the line.

Re: Olympics
 

So how do other countries around the world deal with it? The costs of broadcasting it has to be funded somehow. With the UK FTA channels it would be via the licence fee or by advertising.

Re: Olympics
 

It was a Europe wide deal apparently

https://www.sportspromedia.com/from-...lion-discovery

Re: Olympics
 

Some countries have small contingent in small number of events, only pay for those.
Some countries have fewer TV's. Do they bother much at all or just take free scraps?
Some countries have more hackers getting it free and sharing?
The real enthusiasts will pay to watch their sport/stars.


It's mostly countries like the UK with large spread teams and large spread audience that lose out being used to near total coverage "free".


I guess we will find out post event if the pay walling worked. Was there enough income to match the money paid for "exclusive" coverage? If not it may not get repeated and the IOC will have to do with offers from national broadcasters like in the past.

Re: Olympics
 

That €1.3 billion has to be recouped somehow.
Still leaves the question of how else would those countries fund it.
The key platform nowadays is streaming, with gives the widest coverage of events to the widest potential audience. It doesn't limit viewers to cable or satellite.
With Virgin Media cable, I have 9 Eurosport HD Olympic channels plus a UHD one, all at no extra cost.

Re: Olympics
 

I've always wondered what would happen if the 'bidding' for something didn't reach an acceptable level.

Not that it would ever happen in a world of corporate greed, but it's a pleasant thought :D