Achieving Commercial Viability vs. Upholding Olympism
Olympism is described as a life philosophy that enables sports to serve humanity. It allows the interaction of qualities of the mind will and body. Actions that link education, culture, and games are used to express Olympism. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has set a guideline on Olympics revenue distribution and generation to ensure it remains viable. It is, however, necessary to compare different ways through which achieving commercial viability in the Olympics and upholding Olympism and Olympic values. The IOC believes that the Olympics and sports have a unique role to play in modern society. The current world needs standard solutions due to the interdependence it experiences. This makes sustainability as well as sustaining Olympic values a key pillar for the IOC. The importance of sports is acknowledged by the United Nations as through games; the UN can attain its goal of sustainable development. However the IOC has faced several challenges in ensuring that commercial viability of Olympics is achieved while also maintaining the Olympic values. This paper will assess some of the challenges faced by IOC in achieving commercial sustainability via its leveraging of Olympism and Olympic values to improve the value of sponsorship and broadcasting rights while still upholding Olympism and Olympic values.
The first contradiction between IOC commercial management and Olympism is seen in the broadcasting field, whereby the content of Olympic related advertising has been criticized. For example, the coverage of the United States broadcaster NBC coverage of London Olympics was criticized for various reasons. First, the coverage of the opening ceremony was tape-delayed, and marquee events presented, the commercial breaks were excessive, the London 7/7 terrorist attack tribute to the attack victims was edited out, creation of fake suspense through the editing of gymnastic coverage and overly nationalistic coverage. The actions of NBC are against the Olympic games spirit. Despite the criticism, the London Olympics was the most-watched Olympic event in the United States, with a total of 219.4 million viewers and an audience of about 31.1 million viewers at any moment (Davies, 2016). The large number of viewers can be used to justify the revenue used by advertisers during the Olympic coverage with the broadcaster making a profit of about $120 million on its investment of $1.28 billion to allow it exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympic games in 2012. Despite the conflict, the IOC gave the NBC proprietary rights to broadcast Olympic games in the US from 2021 to 2032 at a rights fee of $7.65 billion (Davies, 2016). Thomas Bach, the president of IOC, contradicted the criticism by stating that NBC has a passion for the Olympics values as well as expertise in broadcasting sports allowing them to broadcast games in the United States for many years to come. This illustrates the challenges of achieving commercial viability while upholding Olympism and Olympic values.
The second contradiction is seen in the case of coca-cola and MacDonald’s as IOC struggles to attain commercial viability and Olympism. The partnership of IOC with coca-cola and MacDonalds contradicts its fundamental Olympism principle, which states, “Olympism is a philosophy of life exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind” (Davies, 2016). The products offered by MacDonald and Coca-Cola are high in fat and calories. The companies partnered with IOC as a way of making a profit by selling their products to the game’s audience. They offered to sponsor the Olympic games, which would then provide them a platform to sell their products. The act contradicts the values of the Olympic games, which is to achieve a balanced whole of the body, will, and mind, which encourages people to be healthy.
References
Davies, L. (2016). Sustainable urban legacies of hosting the Olympic Games. When sport meets business: Capabilities, challenges, critiques, 203.