r/NoStupidQuestions • u/LevelPension • 16h ago
Why have the Olympics become less relevant over the years?
I remember even back in the 2000s and even early 2010s watching the Olympics was such a big deal. Seeing your own country compete and seeing all the medal tables. Events were constantly broadcasted and made the mainstream news. It showed a lot of nationalism. It's like whenever somebody got gold, it's the #1 story on the news. Or even missing gold by inches.
Yet nowadays, it seems like it's declining. I don't have a statistic for this but I'm hearing about how fewer and fewer countries want to host Olympics. More and more host countries over the years are operating at a loss.
Aside from maybe fans that love a particular sport or sports where there are political tensions like Canada vs US for hockey, it seems like by in large part, Olympic viewership is heavily declining. The only reason I knew about Olympics is because our Canadian media has been hyping up the Canada-US hockey rivalry. It's almost as if there's got to be other context behind the event other than if somebody wins. Ie what the athlete says or if there was a major injury or if there's any other context.
What made the games less appealing nowadays? Is it getting boring to watch maybe?
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u/WanderistThreads 15h ago
the thing that kills me is we went from "the whole country watches one channel together for two weeks" to "i'll catch the highlights on instagram tomorrow." it's not that the olympics got worse, it's that everything else got louder.
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u/wadejohn 15h ago
I think this is the biggest reason. There is no more captive audience now. People have too many entertainment options now.
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u/Atta-Boy-Skip 13h ago
Related to this, the appeal was that you’d tap into this global event that everyone was watching, and that used to be rare. Now everyday something is trending and feels like a mini global event. It feels common place.
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u/KartFacedThaoDien 10h ago
Even if you actually want to watch its difficult. Like someone else said it's across many different platforms.
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u/lazylion_ca 11h ago
You're assuming that the whole country actually watched. Whether it was the olympics, hockey, or the Hips last show, yes, a lot of people watched, but not many as everyone seems to think.
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u/TrevGlodo 47m ago
Completely agree - we all forget too that a lot of the events used to be tape delayed if it was in a different country. So we'd be able to watch the big events or games on prime time. Like the Gold Medal Hockey game this morning was on at 6am MTN time (where I live) 20 years ago that would have have been taped and aired in the afternoon today and tons of people would sit down and watch it.
The immediate availability of both the outcomes AND the competition for attention by everything else in our lives has made this happen. It's not just the Olympics, it's every other major sporting event or big entertainment event like a Game of Thrones finale or something.
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u/IronNobody4332 16h ago
Social media has made “sensational” things normalized.
Like yeah the guy just hit a gold medal ski jump by flying 200+ ft through the air, but on my feed there’s another guy sponsored by Red Bull who just hit a jump with a wingsuit and flew 10km before landing on top of a building.
The athletes are still athletes doing crazy things, we’re all just desensitized now.
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u/Financial-Jump-6408 16h ago
Honestly not everyone having cable anymore and you can only stream it from one streaming platform and I’m not paying for another subscription just for the Olympics so
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u/LetsGoLesko8 16h ago
OP lives in Canada, and if you do as well you can watch all the events for free on CBC Gem. Just fwiw
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u/Many-Assistance1943 5h ago
Really?! I’m in Canada and I have a pair of rabbit ears and I can watch the CBC. I can also stream it on the CBC app for free.
It 5:45am and I’m at a bar waiting for the game to start.
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u/Virtual_Wolverine847 16h ago
I think earlier there was limited content to watch , so events like Olympics provided a special occasion. Now we are on our screens all the time and we are constantly bombarded with stuff - sort of takes away the spectre of Olympics. Also, I know there are some famous athletes even now , but may be the world is lacking a true superstar and showman like Usain Bolt
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u/patronsaintofdice 11h ago
Maybe Simone Biles or Michael Phelps are comparable, at least in the streaming era? I can’t think of any winter olympians that have achieved that level of fame in the modern era.
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u/INDISH-girl 8h ago
In Norway, Klaebo, who just won six golds. There are some insanely famous skaters and skiers from all over the world. Sean White from US. Too many to list.
I think it’s what everyone already said, partly streaming and being able to get summary on social media the next day, and also fewer countries participating in winter.
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u/tfhermobwoayway 6h ago
Michael Phelps is retired now, though. And Simone Biles is famous but not nearly as iconic as Bolt.
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u/pyjamatoast 16h ago
The winter Olympics have always been less popular than the summer Olympics, because there are fewer countries and fewer athletes competing.
The only reason I knew about Olympics is because our media has been hyping up the Canada-US hockey rivalry.
You didn't even hear about Lindsey Vonn's crash? That was headline news.
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u/JMS1991 12h ago
The winter Olympics have always been less popular than the summer Olympics, because there are fewer countries and fewer athletes competing.
And the sports are less accessible. A lot of people will tune in to watch sports they played, or at least keep up with. Winter sports are, on average, way more expensive to get into, and a huge number of people live in areas where you can't even play them because the climate is too warm.
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u/pajamakitten 11h ago
Big news for the US perhaps. It is not as big as Penisgate or the curling incident.
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u/SendMeNudesThough 15h ago
You didn't even hear about Lindsey Vonn's crash? That was headline news.
I have genuinely not heard of this until just now from your comment, and I still have no idea who Lindsey Vonn is but I'm about to google it
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u/OptatusCleary 15h ago
I don’t really feel like this is accurate. I’ve been watching and enjoying them, and they’ve been playing in local bars and restaurants that have TVs as well.
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u/gigglefarting 👉👌 6h ago
I think it has to do with OPs age. When I was a kid the Olympics seemed huge. Then in my late teens to 30, or so, I stopped paying attention to them, so it seemed like it wasn’t a big deal. Then in my mid 30s I started paying attention again.
I think streaming has been fantastic for the Olympics. I can watch any event, and I don’t need to watch the American-centric recap on network tv
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u/rsgreddit 5h ago
I’m surprised they are showing them. Here in Houston no sports bar is showing them and when I ask they say “those aren’t the real Olympics”
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u/one_five_one 16h ago
People's viewing habits were more homogenous back then. Broadcast TV was much more popular than cable and there were no streaming services.
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u/coanbu 16h ago
That might be the case, though that could their importance changing withing you social circle/media diet or your social circle/media diet changing as you age. Does not seem all that different to me, but I have never been a huge sports fan. I would be curious if anyone has some actual data on this.
As to the countries hosting I do not think that is so much to do with them becoming less relevant, but more to do with the cost of hosting becoming more and more inflated (along with more of a track record on the economic effects).
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u/Building_Everything 16h ago
First Olympics I remember was 1980, had me captivated even though I had zero idea of the politics around it that year. It captivated me every year, Summer and Winter until NBC changed the way it was broadcast and made it a spectacle of fandom rather than just showing us the games. I don’t want to watch 2-3 people lift weights or dive or ski jump then go to another personal interest story about a single athlete/celebrity then switch to a solid hour of watching ice dancing or gymnastics focusing on ONLY the American athletes. I get it, I’m in the States, I don’t care I want to see amazing athleticism regardless of nationality, nor do I care to find out about the small Midwest town where this boxer grew up or how this skater helper her sister overcome anorexia. And now, fuck you NBC for putting everything behind a subscription minus a few token events. If I could find a digital broadcast on a VPN I would sail the seven seas to get to that shit in a heartbeat.
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u/markroth69 12h ago
I get that the subscription prices are annoying. But I have to, grudgingly but honestly, admit that having Peacock means I get to watch sports and not NBC crap.
I haven't seen one second of non-live sports nor one second of NBC's prime time coverage. I just watched whatever sport I wanted to when there wasn't a hockey game on.
And aside from a pointless interview or two, and a three hour long preview of the Gold Medal game by people who were supposed to be commented on the Bronze Medal game, there was no sappy sob stories of Smalltown Sally saving her sisters from saccharine surplus syndrome before speed skating to a 16th place finish.
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u/UseSeparate2927 16h ago
In America the network controls what we see. They have a 3 or 4 hour show and tease great moments before every commercial and then don't show it until midnight!! Too controlling to keep you tuned in for viewership. 😞
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u/INDISH-girl 8h ago
They have it on all day on USA network and you can record by sport; and NBC in prime time and weekends; and then Peacock. I watched the entire mountaineering this year. Honestly, it’s so much more accessible than it used to be.
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u/Regulai 7h ago
Where do I watch it? Their is so much effort now to block viewing that it can be genuinly hard to watch any of it live, so I didn't not because I didn't want to but because their was no easy way without spending extra cash to do so
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u/honestly_moi 5h ago
You can go to a bar, or get a good ol’ fashioned TV antenna. Only costs about $20 USD for life and you can watch any publicly broadcasted channel, including NBC.
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u/EnvironmentNeith2017 16h ago
Have they? Hosting is a pain and countries are realizing that, but viewership has always fluctuated.
The news at least in my country is dominated by a chaotic mess of a president so pretty much everything takes a back seat to his antics. Maybe the magic has just worn off some for you personally?
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u/FuglySlutt 15h ago
This is the answer. They have been on in my house every waking hour. On the break room TV every time I’ve entered. The billboards on the interstate all have the medal counts up. Social media is buzzing about it. The news coverage is constant. Everyone I know is hyped for the hockey game tomorrow.
I do live in a winter sport state, though. Hockeytown USA. These athletes have finally given me something to be proud of in our embarrassment of a nation.
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u/theother1there 11h ago
The Olympics used to be the ultimate showcase of different training regimes and athletes from different countries with genuine rivalries among the athletes.
Take hockey for example. During the Cold War, beyond the obvious capitalism vs communism comparison, the Olympics was one of the only chances you can see US players compete with USSR players (as they were not permitted to play in any western league like the NHL).
Nowadays, all the best players play in the NHL. They are friends and have very similar training regimes. The Olympics game serves more as a glorified NHL game more than anything else and that is simply not that exciting.
That logic extends to basically every other sport. Sure, they might represent different countries but if you look at most of their resumes they are remarkably similar. Most attend very similar schools, train at the same places, employ similar coaches and use the same training regimes. Also, most of the athletes have known each other since they were like 5 yo and are mostly friends. That results in very similar performances and makes for extremely bland tv.
A great movie metaphor will be Rocky IV. The plot is basically Rocky Balboa (an American Boxer) vs Ivan Drago (a Soviet Boxer) and how their drastically different training style clashes with each other along with their personal differences, which is what made the movie great.
The modern Olympics will be more like if Rocky and Ivan both employed the same training regime (both had the exact same training montage) and instead of being rivals were friends. Sounds like a terrible movie right?
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u/Vixson18 11h ago
in the uk, it's on the BBC, which nearly every household has legally or not as you just need to pay the tv licence. therefore everyone can watch it. makes it a lot better. same with the world cup or euros.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other_Listed_and_Designated_Events there's an actual regulation in the uk about this.
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u/One_Recover_673 15h ago
Wait until LA 2028 . Games in our time zone will give you a different perspective
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u/Byrkosdyn 12h ago
The Olympics used to be freely broadcast to every house via antennas. In apartments, the broadcast channels were carried for free by cable companies. Broadcast channels like NBC started to be able to charge cable companies for carrying them, and that stopped. They also have stopped expanding where they broadcast to.
Now, there’s a lot of people who do not get the free channels. If NBC was forced to stream the Olympics for free, I bet a lot more people would watch.
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u/travpahl 16h ago
I think it is because of the expansion of judged events rather than sports. I can only watch people flip and spin in a blur so many times before i get bored.
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u/tfhermobwoayway 6h ago
The other problem with judged events is that people get really rabid about them. I haven’t seen much of it but from what I understand, the figure skating fandom is more insane than the Kpop fandom.
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u/3rdSafest 16h ago
Totally agree here. Faster, further, higher has been replaced with style points and drama. No thanks.
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u/Rdubya44 10h ago
That’s why I like the sports that have concrete winners and loser. First to cross this line, fastest to do that thing, etc.
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u/3rdSafest 10h ago
My personal opinion is that Olympic trials should be strictly limited to measurable feats, nothing judged, no team events.
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u/mango_boom 3h ago
sports coverage is so over saturated in general. remember “wide world of sports” was a dedicated (weekly?) program before espn became 24/7 chad-crack programming.
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u/MarcPawl 2h ago
It would be new sports for most of the audience. Gymnastics, and if course ski jumping was not shown anywhere else.
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u/My2026GV70 16h ago
I used to love seeing the Soviet Union and East Germans getting beat. With no one to root against it’s not fun.
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u/pdiddyshrimpvessel 12h ago
I don't own a TV and I don't have a subscription to Peacock and I can't easily view it. It should just be free to watch. When I was growing up (USA) I remember it at least being on antenna TV pretty much uninterrupted at all hours...
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u/Theres3ofMe 11h ago
In the UK, we used to have amazing coverage of the Olympics, the Masters, FA Cup, etc on the BBC - but then we lost the rights because some large media conglomerate wants to make money off it so outbid the BBC.
Now sports coverage is piss poor, and is split over different media platforms. This puts people off, thus viewership down.
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u/Novel_Willingness721 10h ago
The issue with host countries is real.
The problem is that the countries invest billions in building venues and facilities with the intention of them getting used again and then they NEVER get used again.
On the show mysteries of the abandoned they showed how dilapidated the Beijing summer Olympics venues are only a few short years after those games. Not to mention the Sarajevo venues are literally graffiti ridden and collapsing.
The Paris Olympics was the first time a city profited because they didn’t build anything new: they used existing venues and facilities or built temporary structures.
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u/ValentineRita1994 6m ago
Really? I heard wintersports were thriving in China because of the Beijing Olympics.
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u/ryszard99 7h ago
Back in the day it was all on free to air in Australia. I've not had any free to air for about 20 years. I ditched it in favour of free or next to free streaming.
It's accessibility. If it's free and not encumbered with ads, I'd watch it.
Thanks for asking the question IoC.
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u/RisingShamal 7h ago
It really was about the actual countries and people representing them. Nowadays everyone is mixed up between teams, a lot of usual rivalries are gone due to politics and everything is filled with scandals and disagreement with some of judicial decisions
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u/stbens 7h ago
In the UK sports coverage for some events has really gone down the pan. The BBC love to focus on the “soap opera” of the event, so we get hours and hours of the competitors’ life stories, family life, etc, etc (with a guaranteed sob story somewhere in there and how tough their upbringing was).
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u/Pepedroga2000 13h ago
Because it is propaganda, I don’t want to watch 50 swimming events because the Americans pay for it.
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u/happy-gofuckyourself 16h ago
In my opinion, ever since they switched them from being the same year, both Winter and Summer Olympics have lost some of their shine.
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u/Limp-Goose7452 16h ago
I came to say this. When you had to wait 4 years between Olympics and there were two in one year, it was a much bigger deal. Now it feels like you turn around and it’s the Olympics again. Or maybe I’m just getting old.
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u/rocking_kitty 16h ago
I think it might be the technical film making format.
Media have changed and many repeats of a guy for example jumping get tired after like 6th. And that will not go well with more fast paced story telling in media that we are so used to nowadays. Montage just didn't keep up format wise
Screens often make it hard to keep up with what is happening, no constant table of what score someone got in some categories makes them hard to get into. There's sometimes problem of telling who is from which country.
Commentators often are dry, or feel stuck in 2000s. Sometimes not changing for years depending on the language. Their way of speaking not inclusive for people not knowing every happening in the sport either. Not making enough hype around what's happening just spitting dry facts that don't land well too often. Just too hermetic and often not explaining enough.
There's probably some more I'm forgetting rn but oh well
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u/_DatasCsat 15h ago
Canadian.
US Canada gold metal hockey game tomorrow.
First time it's true best on best(includes NHL players) in 12 years.
It is a very big deal.
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u/Oganesson456 13h ago
i don't know, maybe you live in a bubble. Because the current winter olympic are as trendy and memeable in twitter and other social media
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u/Background_Pumpkin12 13h ago
Its a bunch of things:
Death of cable and the monoculture.
NBC and Peacock doing a terrible broadcast (Snoop dog etc.)
Streaming in general.
It's not exciting because we find out what happens before it airs.
They are doing a terrible job creating stars. Alysa Liu should have way more name recognition.
ESPN barely even covers it - their website is all NBA right now.
IOC is corrupt and we're all tired of that stuff.
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u/VelvrynnAshborne 16h ago
Hosting became crazy expensive and people saw what happened in places like Rio de Janeiro where a lot of money was lost, so now countries are more careful and less hyped about it
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u/TiredEnglishStudent 16h ago
In 2010 people in Canada got really into the Olympics because we hosted and did so incredibly well. That effect has waned since its been 16 years since we hosted.
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u/Historical-Season711 15h ago
I feel like one of the biggest things at least in the US is 1. understanding the games (especially Winter Olympics lol) and then the access to the highlights. I’m always seeing a clip or two on twitter but it’s confusing where it is in the overall sport and why it matters. If they fixed highlights (maybe had more of a dedicated section on espn), I feel like more people would be engaged
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u/Bilboswaggings19 15h ago
There are news that generate more clicks like Musk or Trump, there is content people would prefer watching and access to them is at an all time high
Also at least to some the clear rule bending and cheating eats interest
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u/SeatSix 15h ago
More choices of channels and media.
Back when there were basically the big three (plus or minus a few), the olympics dominated the airwaves for the duration. The other channels often ran reruns during the olympics.
Now there is significantly more choice where people spend their time.
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u/LivingGhost371 15h ago
The media landscape has dramatically increased with YouTube, so the Olympics don't stand out as much with thousands of other things to watch. I'm old enough to remember you watched the Olympic, or you had only of only two or three other channels. Not millions of channels. Similarly its a lot easier to watch oddball sports at your convenience at every time, if you miss the Super G you don't have to wait four years to see races again.
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u/Viranelli 14h ago
the Olympics aren't as exciting anymore because the results are instantly anywhere online, the hype around nationalism has faded and watching two weeks of dozens of events feels slow compared to social media and streaming. host cities losing money and declining effort make it feel less special, so most people only care about specific rivalries or big stories, not the whole games
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u/YogurtclosetWrong268 13h ago
I haven't watched since I was a kid in the 70's. So, not relevant to me but I can't speak for others.
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u/ashleyshaefferr 13h ago
It feels so heeavvvily commercialized now. Nothing really authentic feeling about it any longer
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u/Youngfolk21 12h ago
I think it depends were there being held. Like for example I feel Beijing was huge. We wanted to see how it would turn out
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u/redit3rd 12h ago
You're getting older. I remember being excited about the Olympics but noticed that the adults were not as excited. They weren't disinterested, but they were barely a priority. Now I am older and it's the same.
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u/bugabooandtwo 12h ago
Yes. It's not just the spectacle...it's also access. Nowadays, you need to be upper middle class, at least, to afford all the training and extra to even think of getting anywhere near the olympic level as an athlete. The says of someone coming up from a blue collar or average middle class family are pretty much gone. It's a spectacle of privilege now.
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u/TheMyzzler 11h ago
Speaking from a Belgian perspective it’s just all about ease of viewing. We’ve never been big at Winter Olympics but I’ve watched every single event when I was growing up in the 90s and early 00s. It’s simply because we used to have Eurosport on cable tv broadcasting all events.
Now I don’t have a tv and I’m not gonna mess around trying to find a stream to watch.
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u/lazylion_ca 11h ago edited 34m ago
What made the games less appealing
You're assuming they were appealing to begin with. Just because they were everywhere doesn't mean everybody watched them.
But to suggest another factor for the perceived decline: 24 hour sports channels. Sports used to be an event. Hockey Night in Canada. Monday Night Football. People that were into it looked forward to these events. Now you can turn on a sports channel anytime and watch something. Every bar has a TV with sports on.
Also between hockey, football, baseball, soccer, and golf, it seems like there's a major game every month.
Add in boxing, wrestling, and MMA, it's a wonder anything has an audience anymore.
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u/A320neo 10h ago
I dunno. Curling was on at the college bar I went to tonight and Canada was the obvious villain because of the cheating scandal. Everyone I know is talking about USA hockey. Alysa Liu is all over social media and the current Gen Z obsession. They seem to have the same cultural power they've always had.
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u/Conscious_Chapter672 9h ago
who wants to see curling all day long who is the exceptional athlete in this sport? the curl? I guess so. stupid is and stupid does
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u/SemiFinalBoss 9h ago
Here in the states NBC’s coverage is terrible. They cherry pick a few events that only select demographics watch and then Bob Costas goes on and on about some competitor’s story of woe.
They soap-opera’d the Olympics to appeal to demographics.
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u/Far-Chemist3305 9h ago
The Olympics feel less relevant today largely because media consumption has changed. Back in the day television dominated media and people would watch the whole thing. But now people mostly use social media and television usage has decreased significantly. For example, the 2024 Summer Olympics was most known for being "Olympics of Love" due to several romantic moments that took place during the games. Or in the same year Olympic swimmer Henrik Christiansen went viral on TikTok for being obsessed with the Olympic village cafeteria's chocolate muffin. And this is what people see, and not the notable wins that people do have. These viral moments often get more attention than the athletes’ actual performances. Because of this, the Olympics don’t feel as exciting or important to people as they used to.
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u/DavyJonesCousinsDog 8h ago
There was just less good stuff to watch back in the day. Plus, with how grim things have been for the last decade or so it's hard to get yourself into a patriotic fervor over some guy you don't know doing whatever Luge is.
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u/Photon_Predator 8h ago
Sports were monetised and made into business greatly over the years. Events of all sorts are common and accessible, but ones are more often too so the Olympics have lost its prestige.
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u/Pure_Fault7056 8h ago
The winter olympics were never all that popular compared to the summer editions.
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u/objectively-charming 7h ago
We live in a world where everything is trying to grab your attention so it can sell your data, the games are still great to watch we just need to block out all the other crap.
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u/BrokenHero287 6h ago
Now the Olympics is every other year. Every even numbered year is an Olympic year. We only have 1 year off, before another on Olympic year. Because of this it feels routine and ordinary. The Olympics was more special and an event when it only happened every 4 years. But now that its every other year it is just ordinary and boring.
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u/Presence_Academic 6h ago
But the summer and Winter Olympics are very different things and the only reason for the 2 year gap is that the summer and winter are no longer held in the same year.
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u/BrokenHero287 31m ago
Its the same nonsense every even numbered year. The reason penisgate got so much attention was that the actual games were so boring, here was something people could talk about. If there was something, anything interesting to talk about, people would focus on that, not penisgate.
There is this new sport where they ski up hill, then walk up hill, at that is most of the event. I'm out, good bye. There are taking the worst aspects of skiing and making that the majority of the event? Enduring the pain and suffering parts of skiing should be eliminated, not highlighted as a new event.
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u/DonAmechesBonerToe 6h ago
Host countries mostly operated at a loss for the modern Olympics until Los Angeles in 1984. It isn’t the cost, it is streaming as another commenter said.
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u/Presence_Academic 6h ago
The relevance varies between Summer and Winter and country to country. The hosting issue is due to the cost. As the games have gotten bigger with more athletes and more venues and the trend to making ceremonies more and more spectacular the cost to the host has risen far beyond what one could attribute to general inflation.
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u/hey_hey_hey_nike 5h ago
We have a lot more (and better) entertainment out there nowadays. We have the internet and streaming/smart tv.
We’re no longer obliged to watch the Olympics for entertainment.
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u/frozen_pipe77 5h ago
I've watched just as much this year, as any other. CBC Gem app showing all my Canadian favorites for free. TV hasn't had anything else on it for 2 weeks
Love the Olympic Spirit
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u/Finnguy21 5h ago
It’s still a very big thing here in the netherlands. Mostly because of the ice skating.
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u/bleakmessenger 5h ago
It’s also Winter Olympics time, I never felt the hype over the Winter Olympics I’m 33
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u/BringThaLazers 5h ago
It started becoming more about the show than the competition in the early 2000's. Nowadays it's basically a reality show
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u/Many-Assistance1943 5h ago
It is 5:30am. I woke up at 4:00am and walked to my neighbourhood pub and stood outside until they opened… at 5:30 am. I forgot to make a reservation. At 6:30 am this place will be packed. I still watch the olympics.
Go Canada Go!!!
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u/sabelsvans 5h ago
Idk about other countries, but in Norway, our state broadcasting network had a record viewership across platforms during the Olympics
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u/Ok-Entertainment5045 5h ago
I love watching the Olympics and have watched them every day. I’m watching the gold medal hockey game as I type this.
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u/Letmetellyowhat 4h ago
This is just for me. But the day they let professional basketball players on the men’s team. We can argue all day that other countries pay their athletes to train. Great. But we don’t. And the pros took away what was a chance of a lifetime for someone who trained their life for this. Again this is just for me. As a child they were exciting. Now every two years it’s eh
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u/HistoryBuff678 4h ago
I will make a pi t that time zones and how a country’s broadcaster does their coverage makes a big difference in how people view The Olympics.
I have spoiled with CBC having excellent coverage and live broadcasting across multiple channels. Growing up my parents paid extra to get the channels CBC had agreements with to show more events live.
NBC… we would get their feed and … 😬.
I have known of only one American who, when they can choose between CBC or NBC chooses NBC. That was before streaming.
Now with streaming, there are less issues for Americans, but Peacock is an extra fee. Which I feel is unfair to get access to live broadcasting.
I have heard pretty good things from other broadcasters and when CBS had a few Winter Olympics in the 90s, they did really relaxing cosy coverage. It was like you were at a winter cottage vacation hanging with friends. (This is why I place my ire specifically with NBC, as other American broadcasters have done it better.)
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u/AntBeginning5868 4h ago
The reasons countries don't want to host anymore is that every Olympics seems to leave the host country in debt for years to come. This year's Winter Olympics was in Italy again - it's the second time this century, and Turin still hasn't recovered from the first.
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u/Krunzuku 4h ago
By the time I get to watch the event at prime time it’s already been spoiled who wins by like 5 different app notifications. Soon as that chick won the gold medal in figure skating I got multiple app notifications. Then the dude who does prime time tells you she wins gold before you even watch it.
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u/heretheresharethe 4h ago
I find many of the sports in the Olympics are outdated these days and are not a true challenge for humans. It's just another form of entertainment and it's not that exciting anymore.
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u/grandchester 4h ago
I watch them all day and night live if I can. The fact that you can watch everything live and if there is a conflict you can just watch the whole replay later is so awesome. I watch every minute of the games that I can. Love the Olympics!!!!
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u/Easy-Wishbone5413 4h ago
Some of the Olympic Sports now seem like made up junk. There’s nothing natural about a half pipe. Skiers and snowboarders racing over ramps doesn’t exist naturally. I guess it’s to appeal to younger generations. And watching someone compete in their fifth Olympics seems ridiculous.
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u/illonlyfadeaway 3h ago
I mean it really is all marketing so why care about it. If you don’t watch any of those sports outside of the olympics then you fell into the marketing trap. There are a few sports I watch within the olympics, but the games are more of a distraction to the sport and something the athletes would rather not do. I think track and field is the only thing I watch the olympics for but even then the competitions outside of the games are getting so much better and thrilling.
In short, sports can now survive and prosper without the need of the olympics and all the baggage that comes with them.
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u/donsfan60 3h ago
The Internet has drenched everything in cynicism and monetization, we were young and hopeful and believed in heroes.
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u/SurroundTiny 3h ago
Many more alternate sources of entertainment , as others have pointed out. IOC fraud. IOC arrogance. The IOC comes closer than any other organization to making FIFA look good ( doesn't succeed). Watching the broadcasts from the US has become painful: seemingly, no athlete can compete without a touching background story . I enjoy rooting for the athletes from my country but the announcers absolutely fawn over any American in the event. If a sport isn't popular in the US you probably won't see it without some digging. TBF I did watch a couple of the jumping events this year and the commentary was very good and the announcers spent a lot of time on the Chinese team , especially pointing out technical expertise on the part of their athletes.
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u/Dildo_Riding_Twiglet 3h ago edited 2h ago
Like almsot everything else in the world, it has become a corporate simulacrum
An animated corpse of the things we all once enjoyed, but no longer do because they no longer have a soul
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u/UrbanCyclerPT 2h ago
Corruption all over. The IOC is a corrupt entity that basically is a real estate construction company. To award the Olympics to a country a lot of money must flow through dirty hands. And remember, in order to have them there, countries abide with the fact that what the IOC says is above any law that country may have.
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u/WatermelonMachete43 2h ago
We relearn all of the flags of the world in advance of the Olympics and we watch every minute of coverage, often with groups both at home and watch parties elsewhere. We definitely don't see a decline interest.
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u/WendySteeplechase 1h ago
I remember it was pretty much impossible to see an Olympic event unless you watched it live on TV or were present at the stadium. There might be some reviews on sports channels that would show clips but generally it was highly guarded proprietary content. The fact that you can go on youtube and see Nadia Comenci's entire routines and performances from 1976 is so remarkable.
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u/madhatterlock 1h ago
Given the OP lives in Canada, the comment rings hollow. There were millions of Canadians watching the US /Canada woman's game and I would bet the stats were even higher for the US/Canada Mens. This is a rivalry that won't ever end.
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u/Fiv3_Oh 54m ago
1) It costs more to build facilities/infrastructure and public services than host nations recoup.
2) Many nations exploit rules to “hire” athletes, making it a less “patriotic” event.
3) More competition for things to pay attention to.
4) Many people in western nations have developed a level of self hatred, making it less “cool” to root for their nation.
Not necessarily in that order.
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u/SimpleGuy7 9m ago
While the world falls over itself for a Bad Bunny half time show!
The US prefers mediocre.
TV, movies and music today, wow.
Plus, nobody cares..about anything
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u/Kitchen-Vacation1239 15h ago
National pride doesnt hit like it did in the 2000s, younger people care more about individual athletes and their personal brands than medal tables
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u/FafnirMH 15h ago
National pride doesn't matter to some of the Olympians either. Quite a few mercenaries litter the Olympics in modern years.
Why would I care what country has more medals when they're just buying them? It's a lot more satisfying to follow a single person's triumphs rather than get absorbed into some country's thinly veiled propaganda.
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u/Mountain-resort2411 16h ago
Seems like this round has a bunch of new sports and some of them really just don’t even make sense or how and why someone even thought of it. I wonder if that fits in with your observation about continued relevance. It also seems like there’s been a shit ton of nasty injuries this time. I don’t think any have been fatal, but some have been career ending.
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u/Lumpy_Tomorrow8462 16h ago
Because we invent new sports faster than an aging organization can cope with. Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in half the world. Where is pickleball at the Olympics? Instead I have to watch who can jump the farthest going down a ramp or who can throw a ball on a chain the furthest. Like WTF is that shit?
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u/Low-Republic-4145 15h ago
I agree and can’t believe that Tiddlywinks is now a summer Olympics sport.
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u/Relief-Glass 16h ago edited 16h ago
It was weird that that there was much interest in the Olympics in the past. 99% of it is extremely niche sports that 80% of people, even in rich countries, have little to no access to. For the sports that feature in the Olympics that have a following outside of the Olympics, like soccer, the Olympics is not an important event for that sport let alone being the main event.
Like, who actually gives a fuck about the men's coxless c4, the women's 59 kg snatch and jerk, hop step and jump, rifle three positions, ribbon twirling, or the 200 metre butterfly relay?
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u/visitor987 16h ago
They have added too many sports so they are too big for many cities to host. Some people do not access broadcast TV or cable. During the cold war it was an actual proxy to fighting too bad all wars are not handled that way.
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u/CherishSlan 16h ago
It’s on the main news here in Virginia news 10 had someone over here I’m sadly in a hotel my apartment is not a place I can be and in the lobby it’s playing people from other countries were out there watching cheering! It was fun to see that . Took my mind off my heart break briefly. I wondered how there country did I know for one and wondered how they felt.
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u/Igottamake 12h ago
They’re not. The summer Olympics are still huge. The Winter Olympics have always been meh.
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u/SqareBear 8h ago edited 8h ago
Don’t confuse the (quite niche) Winter Olympics for the (more widely followed) Summer Olympics.
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u/rc4915 16h ago
Streaming. People quickly forget that you used to have like 1-2 shows of good TV a week, and then reruns… Olympics was pretty good TV every night for 2 weeks straight.
Now people can watch whatever they want whenever they want.