After years of the idea being floated around, it looks like an Olympic TV network is going to happen. It's one of the big priorities of IOC President Thomas Bach, and he appears to have enough support within the Olympic community to get it done. The TV network is just one of a number of reforms Bach would like to see, all of which are for the good of the Games.
One of the primary reasons the IOC wants to create an Olympic TV channel would be to promote Olympic sports in the years between Games. And this is the No. 1 reason why this channel is a good idea. How many sports do people only care about during the Olympics? Let me rephrase that, how many Olympic sports do people watch other than during the Olympics? (It's like how people only watch soccer during the World Cup.) With a few exceptions, Olympic sports receive very little exposure outside of the Games themselves.
Things have gotten better with the growth of 24-hour all-sports channels, but even with the existence of these channels, there are the sports that are seen on TV very infrequently, if at all. Perhaps an Olympic TV channel would show World Championships, Olympic qualifying tournaments and other major events in some of these sports. They also want to engage young people, and maybe by increasing the exposure of these non-marquee sports, it might encourage them to take up a sport they otherwise might not have.
I'm intrigued by the possibility of an Olympic channel for other reasons, though. There's obviously plenty of Olympic history. They could show documentaries and highlights, as well as news and magazine shows about all things Olympic. Maybe even they'd rebroadcast old Olympic coverage! Those interested would even get a chance to watch things like bid presentations and host city announcements live on TV instead of just online. And the Youth Olympics could finally have a home after struggling to find broadcast partners in a number of countries. There are so many possibilities it's intriguing, and they wouldn't be hard-pressed for programming, which is the problem most start-up TV networks run into.
While there would obviously be a lot of kinks to work out, Bach envisions an Olympic network as a sort of collaboration between National Olympic Committees, sports federations, broadcasters and sponsors. He even cited the National Geographic Channel as an example, where the IOC would basically serve as a moderator and be the developer of online content. (Although you can't help but wonder what role the various broadcasters might be willing to have, especially with the amount they pay for Olympic rights, and what an Olympic channel might show during the Games themselves, when these rights-holders would undoubtedly want their exclusivity to continue, and rightfully so.)
The ultimate goal of an Olympic TV channel is to expand the Olympic brand, which is one of Bach's top priorities. And while I'm not sure about the possibilities of this channel in the U.S., it's definitely something that's worth a shot. Besides, this would be a worldwide Olympic channel, and that's the reason why I think it would ultimately work. But they've got to find the right model, which could be somewhat of a challenge. Because Olympic fans in the U.S. and Olympic fans in Europe are very different from Olympic fans in China.
Another item on the docket for Olympic Agenda 2020 (the name for Bach's reform program) concerns the sports program. More specifically, adding flexibility to the sports program. Under previous President Jacques Rogge, the IOC capped the number of competitors (10,500) and sports (28) at the Summer Games. Since that maximum number of sports had already been reached, the only way for a new sport to get into the Olympics would be at the expense of another. That's why wresting was dropped and reinstated last year.
Bach isn't sure limiting the number of sports on the Olympic program is the answer. He thinks there's a way to add sports to the program while maintaining the 10,500-athlete limit, which is important towards controlling costs for the host cities. His proposal is to look at each sport and reexamine the events within each that are currently in the Olympics. By eliminating certain disciplines within existing sports (for example, do we need 200-meter and 1000-meter races in flatwater canoe/kayak?) or reducing the number of entries in certain events (fewer weight classes in the combat sports?), that opens up the possibility of adding new sports, even if it brings the total over 28, keeping the program fresh and relevant without dramatically increasing the cost to host cities.
Speaking of controlling costs for host cities, Bach is very troubled by the lack of bids for the 2022 Winter Games. Cities were scared off by Sochi's $51 million price tag, as well as how much it costs just to put together a bid. It costs millions just to try and get the Olympics, then millions more if you win. Cities and countries understandably don't want to shell out that amount of money when there's potentially no reward.
They haven't been too detailed on what kind of changes to the bid process might be in store, perhaps because they haven't figured out what they would be yet themselves. But I have no doubt the Olympic bid process is going to change. Starting with the 2024 cycle, the bid process is going to be much more streamlined and much more cost-effective. The hope is that will make hosting the Olympics attractive once again. There are plenty of long-term benefits to hosting the Olympics, but those can definitely be tough to see 10 years out.
It hasn't even been a year yet, and Thomas Bach has already left his mark on the Olympic Movement during his Presidency. These proposals will be voted on by the full IOC membership after the Executive Board meets in October, but I already like everything I'm hearing about each one.
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