Could the Olympics die with the baby boomers?

Michael Cook
August 05, 2024 12 Reactions

The pageantry of the Olympic Games are diverting attention from a question which must keep members of the International Olympic Committee awake at night: will the modern Games survive?

"If we don't get young people playing sport, we won't be here for very much longer," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said at a press conference last week. "We have to attract young audiences and go where they are... we have to attract young people to sport or we are dead, basically."

“Or we are dead”?

Did he really say that?

He did. It’s scary, but Adams could be right. The figures for how many people watched the Paris Olympics aren’t in yet. But a Gallup poll taken before the Games showed that interest peaked for the London Games in 2012 and has been declining ever since. In 2012, 59 percent of Americans planned to watch “a lot” of the televised sports; this year the figure was only 35 percent. And in 2012 only 13 percent said that they were not going to watch the Olympics at all; this year, the figure is 30 percent. Only 56 percent of Americans could even name where the 2024 Olympics is taking place.

According to Gallup, interest in the Olympics is falling across all socio-economic groups. But the political divide is reflected in who’s watching the Games. Democrats (46%) are far more likely to watch than Republicans (31%), college graduates (47%) than high school graduates (25%), richer households (44%) than poorer households (28%), over-50s (42%) than under 50s (30%).

If the IOC were a media organisation, it ought to be terrified by these stats. The Games is becoming entertainment for wealthy baby boomer Democrats – and millions of them drop off the perch every year. But the IOC is a media organization. According to the IOC, 61 percent of its US$7.6 billion in revenue in 2017 – 2021 came from media rights. Without an audience, how long will it be able to sell the games to broadcasters?

This explains why the Paris Olympics is desperately trying to attract younger viewers with cool new sports like skateboarding, BMX, surfing, sport climbing. E-sports are on the horizon.

But will this work? According to Gallup, the most anticipated sport by a country mile is women’s gymnastics, with 68 percent listing it in their top three choices. Trailing behind were track and field and swimming, for both men and women, with about 30 percent.

Breakdancing, which is a sport at the Paris Olympics, was not highly anticipated by the people surveyed by Gallup.

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An academic study of the Olympics and the World Cup in the journal Tourism Management last year concluded that “the future of these two events is now highly uncertain and that previous growth might not continue, therefore questioning the implicit growth logic that has underpinned the Olympic Games and the World Cup for much of their existence.”

The authors say that the future is far from certain. The Games could grow, could plateau, or could decline:

In this scenario, the societal and events-related crisis factors … radically change the nature of mega-events as we know them. Potential hosts no longer bid for mega-events due to their excessive costs, uncertain economic and tourism impacts and poor sustainability record; more and more communities challenge their city governments due to overtourism concerns; fewer and fewer visitors travel to watch competitions in person in a carbon-constrained world where various green new deals imposed by national governments put limits on mega-event organizers’ attempts to attract large numbers of tourists and local fans; people no longer watch events on pay TV that do not interest them and broadcast revenue starts to decline; and hosts put on ‘bare bones’ events at minimal cost.

The Olympic Games is a treasure, a glorious celebration of human achievement, a bond of fellowship, a fortnight of international goodwill. But its future is far from guaranteed. The League of Nations died. The International Refugee Organization died. The Warsaw Pact died. NATO could soon be on life support.

There will always be an appetite for sport – but the immense popularity of the World Cup shows that it can be satisfied in other ways. Like every other media event, the Olympics has to compete for eyeballs and funding. The Ancient Greek Olympics lasted for a thousand years, but there is no guarantee that the modern Olympics will do the same.

With all this in mind, why is the IOC doffing its hat to woke slogans? Gender self-ID has created a huge controversy and threatens the future of women’s sports. “Meat is murder” chefs are starving athletes of protein. Environmentally-friendly cardboard beds have given athletes sleepless nights. Swimming in the Seine has sent athletes to hospital. “Save the planet” means no air-conditioning in sweltering heat. Virulently anti-Christian scenes and a disgusting threesome portrayed in the Opening Ceremony have alienated many viewers.

Go woke, go broke. The IOC needs to listen to the outrage over some of its ideologically inspired policies.  

Would you miss the Olympics? Would your kids?

Michael Cook is editor of Mercator

Image credit: Michael Phelps in the 2016 Olympics in Rio / Bigstock 

 

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  • mrscracker
    Just a mention that I heard a well done interview this morning with Dr. Emma Hilton a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester, about the IOC & athlete testing issues. I don’t follow social media but she said she’s active on X/Twitter & has a number of posts elsewhere online. She might be someone helpful to speak to for future Mercator articles. I thought she was professional & fair minded.
  • Angela Shanahan
    commented 2024-08-07 17:58:27 +1000
    The Sydney 2000 Olympics were wonderful. I saw it on tv , but a lot of my kids went and wherever we were we screamed ourselves hoarse barracking for Kathy Freeman. Good on them for putting Break dancing and skateboarding in A lot of younger people will watch that. ( btw the Algerian and Taiwanese boxers are XY according to the doctor for the IBA. That should be the beginning and end of it.)
  • Juan Llor Baños
    commented 2024-08-07 03:53:44 +1000
    Magnífico artículo!!
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse, I believe the IOC statement revealed how they regard the IBA but didn’t clear up much else. But it’s a good reminder that we should always be vigilant when reading or watching the news. There’s bias & competing narratives everywhere & on all sides. We tend to selectively notice that only when it comes up against our own ideologies.
  • Steven Meyer
    commented 2024-08-06 15:22:43 +1000
    I think the IOC might have trouble finding cities willing to host the games. There are exceptions but mostly they’ve been money losers for the host cities.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-06 07:30:19 +1000
    They issued a statement mrscracker: https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-imane-khelif-lin-yuting-boxing-13e9529195585404c7b03c96f97dd634

    One could also argue that the IOC cleared it up by allowing Khelif to compete…which they did. Unfortunately, in everyone’s zeal to “protect women,” they managed to engage in gross misogyny because of a woman not being “feminine enough”

    All of that said I love the Olympics and truly enjoy watching it every 2 years. As someone in his 30s, I don’t think interest in the Olympics is necessarily flagging in younger generations. With streaming more popular than ever, it’s become easier to catch highlights instantaneously on your phone – especially with the time delay for those not in the host country. TV ratings might not reflect it, but would be curious to see what total views are online
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse, I think the IOC is the correct party that could have cleared this up discretely & respectfully before it became public speculation.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-06 02:25:14 +1000
    mrscracker,

    Speaking of apologies, Angela Carini (she who lost in 46 seconds to Khelif) apologized for her poor sportsmanship: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5676796/2024/08/02/olympics-women-boxing-angela-carini-apologizes-imane-khelif/

    Further, NY Post revealed pics from when Khelif was young: https://nypost.com/2024/08/02/sports/young-imane-khelif-pics-emerge-after-controversial-olympics-win/

    What is abundantly clear is that Mercatornet, in its zeal to promote its own ideology, viciously slandered a cisgendered woman with allegations that could cost her her life in her native Algeria.
  • mrscracker
    Honestly, I’ve never had a great deal of interest in the Olympics, but I have enjoyed watching the winter ones. 30 years ago they were held in Norway & the opening ceremony was a Norwegian wedding procession in beautiful traditional dress. If I remember there were sleighs & snowflakes falling. I think the Norwegian Royal Family was part of the procession, too. It was the first time I’d ever seen the winter Olympics & it was just magical.
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse, nothing is clear about that situation & we can only know what we read in the media. It was widely reported, accurately or not, that the IOC went by the info on a passport & a boxer’s self ID. It was also reported both boxers in question had failed eligibility tests previously. If those tests were inaccurate or the testing protocols were dodgy, that’s something else that may be revealed in the news. Or perhaps not.
    If anyone needs to apologize, I think it would be the IOC. Contestants’ private anatomical & medical affairs shouldn’t become a source of public scrutiny & controversy. The IOC can conduct their own testing in a discrete & professional way when an athlete has failed eligibility previously.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-05 22:25:38 +1000
    Michael,

    Will you apologize to Imane Khelif for your previous article? I notice again you brought up “Gender self-ID” without acknowledging your own role in the unfair backlash Khelif received.
  • Michael Cook
    published this page in The Latest 2024-08-05 20:56:58 +1000

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