How to lose half a BILLION dollars in 2 weeks.

Photo above - American surfer Griffin Colapinto wipes out at the 2024 summer Olympic games. NBC/Peacock was almost wiped out with a $436 loss covering the games.

What was your favorite Olympic moment this summer? Yeah . . . me too. I struggle to remember much of the events. NBC/Peacock probably has a sharper memory. It could be the moment they signed up for the US broadcast rights. And lost $436 billion with the stroke of a pen. See link below.

Usually, it’s the host city that nearly goes bankrupt when they “win” the right to host the Olympics. And there’s no word yet what happened to Paris. The summer Olympics is supposed to be a tourism bonanza. But I recall at least one NBC announcer telling TV audiences that “good hotel rooms are still available.”

Things took a bad turn right from the start. The opening ceremony featured a performance of “The Last Supper” (one of Christianity’s holiest moments) by transvestites. Yikes! Good thing they didn’t try that with some Islamic ritual. An LGBT Mecca pilgrimage? Well, this DOES give an opening to any cities competing to host future Olympics. Question #1 on the application form: “Do you intend to defame any of the worlds best known religions during the Olympics?” Even Beijing, which is fervently secular, managed to avoid that pitfall when they hosted the both the summer and winter games.

Back to NBC/Peacock. They did (re)broadcast the 15 new Olympic swimming records. The average winning time was 0.10 second faster than the old record. Only 2 new 2024 records were set by Americans. I was riveted to my set.

Endless hours of people splashing in pools with their faces concealed is not why NBC (and Paris) had financial problems though. For me, the evidence for the “Olympics have lost the plot” was the 14 rounds of eliminations for the men’s and women’s surfing. The surfing was not held in the Seine, of course. Or even the English Channel. It was in . . . Tahiti. In a tiny place called Teahupo’o. Year round population of 1,500 Ma’ohi villagers. Yes . . . there were more Olympic contestants, judges, coaches, trainers, medical technicians, camera operators, and announcers than actual villagers. How much did THAT cost?

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Peacock Lost $436 Million in the Paris Olympics Quarter