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instant international visibility and the Cold War games can be played openly on a
world-stage, as sport was now the war without weapons.
All of this was a news reporter's dream. Not only did the Games combine
pageantry and excitement with powerful romantic images of the human quest
for excellence; they also had political overtones that helped guarantee a large and
interested audience for Olympic coverage.
The full exploitation of commercial involvement was only realised by the IOC
with the election of Juan Antonio Samaranch as President in 1980. Until then the
IOC relied heavily on income from loosely formulated contracts of television
rights.
Samaranch initially formulated TOP (The Olympic Programme) and attracted
the multinational corporations to advertise their wares through the Olympic
Games. The programme now known as "World Wide Partners" has helped fill
the IOC coffers and provide the corporations an effective and instant association
with excellence. The programme brings the Olympic Movement an income in the
excess of $500 million leading up to Athens 2004.
The first television broadcast of the Games was in 1948. The London Games
received a sum of £1,500.00 ($2,250.00) as broadcast fees.
The Olympic Games are one of the most saleable of international products on
television. There is no language barrier and a wide range of sports is common to
most parts of the world. However, it took some time for the potential of television
coverage to be fully realised by the Olympic Movement.
It was only in 1960 that the Olympic television rights were sold again. The
Mexico Organising Committee sold the USA television rights to ABC for $4 million
and handed over $150,000.00 to the IOC.
In 1976, ABC bought the USA rights for $25 million but made over three
times that amount selling advertising for as much as $72,000.00 per minute.
In 1984, ABC paid $225 million for the television rights of the Los Angeles
Games.
The massive sums paid by advertisers for access to large US television
audiences have given TV companies the economic power to compete in an
auction which has seen the price of Olympic television rights rocketing. The bulk
of Olympic income now derives from US television rights.
The IOC now controls all television rights. Already television rights have
been sold to many television companies throughout the world. Although
not yet totally finalised, more than $1.4 billion have been raised for the Athens
Games.
Television has provided the Olympic Games an exposure that cannot be
quantified by any measure. The popularity of the Olympic Games was highlighted
by the fact that 3.7 billion individuals in 220 countries watched more than
36 billion viewer hours of the Sydney Games television coverage. This was an
increase of 2.6 billion on Atlanta in 1996.
Television has thus made the Olympic Games the most popular sports event
the world has ever known.
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